Do the 13 soldiers sentenced to death deserve it?

On May 14th, 2014, it was reported that Nigerian soldiers started shooting sporadically at Maimalari

Barracks in Maduguri, Borno State. The shooting was as a result of them being angry for the killing of their colleagues during an ambush by the Boko Haram sect which killed 12 soldiers. Lack of adequate weaponry to fight Boko haram and non-timely payment of their allowance was also part of the reasons...(is it not a shame that our soldiers fighting for the peace and stability of our country Nigeria, need to beg before they are being paid?)


 Now, due to their anger, they opened fire on their commander in the North-eastern city of Maiduguri Maj. Gen Ahmed Mohammed. Luckily for Gen. Ahmed, he escaped and was not harmed. But did the soldiers who opened fire on him escape the law?

This action conducted by the soldiers in the military code, can be referred to as ''Mutiny''. In simple definition, Mutiny is a criminal conspiracy among group of individuals to oppose or overthrow a lawful authority to which they report to.

The ambush according to some soldiers was a planned work and they felt their General Officer Commanding (GOC) was involved or had an agreement with Boko Haram to kill them. Some reports I read stated that after going for an operation in Kalabalge, a local government in Borno state, they begged to at least stay the night in one of the villages to rest and then return to Maiduguri the following day. But those commanding the troop refused them sleeping in any village on the ground that the GOC gave an instruction that the victims and those that survived the operation should come back to Maiduguri all cost.

On September 16th, 2014, the  military court in Abuja sentenced 13 out of 18 people standing trial for the mutiny. In this 13, 12 were sentenced to death by firing squad, 5 discharged and one sentenced to serve jail term for 28days with hard labour.

A lot of Nigerians and even lawyers, don dey frown their face because of this sentence. Some expressed their feelings that the sentence was rather too harsh and they should be pardoned.

Lawyers on the other hand, advised the soldiers to take their case to the court of appeal.

To me, i feel this is so wrong and this is the time Nigeria soldiers need to stand up and fight for their colleagues. These are people who devote their lives to fight terrorism in Nigeria, some haven't seen their families in month. If they are killed, the moral of any junior military man will be low. If its low, how can we fight Boko haram?
The GOC should also face the law and not just be suspended from the army. Abeg jare...

I don't also blame them for protesting especially as a result of lack of weapons. Shebi even the government knows its true and that is why he begged the National Assembly to borrow him 1 billion Naira to buy weapons for the army.

In your own view, what do you think about the sentence? Was it fair enough?