THE 28 soldiers standing trial for mutiny in Akure, Ondo State capital, weekend, raised alarm over threat to their lives in detention.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Akure, their counsel, Mr Peter Adonu, alleged their inhuman treatment in detention at Owena Barracks, Akure.

According to Adonu, the suspects had been facing inhuman treatment at the guardrooms since the Senate waded into their trial after they protested the delayed payment of their foreign mission allowances.

He said:"It is disheartening to bring to the notice of the general public, the Presidency and the National Assembly the gruesome oppression and terror meted out to the 28 soldiers being detained at the Owena Army Barracks on October 16, 2008 by the director of military police, Col. Lasbury Odunwa. Our clients informed us that Odunwa on the said date at about 5:00 p.m. gathered the 28 soldiers at the parade ground and rained curses on them."

Adonu quoted Odunwa as addressing them, "Bastards, you have forgotten that you are soldiers and that I can do anything to you. All the  publications you have made, what impact have they yielded for you, you goats? I am going to make life miserable for you as from today and I tell you that the army is above any law and, if you misbehave, I will fire you dead and tell the whole world that you wanted to escape. As from this night, I will buy gloves and search your private parts."

The counsel explained that the director of military police ordered two of the soldiers, females, to frog jump until they collapsed and the victims were taken to a guardroom separated from others with tight security. Adonu said the other 26 soldiers were also not spared as an officer was detailed to buy new keys and locked up the soldiers in smaller cells. The soldiers, according to him, urinate and pass feaces in the same place they sleep in.

He went on: "May we say that Col. Odunwa who is a key witness for the army in this orchestrated drama by the Bauka headed court martial has turned himself into a terror to these soldiers? These soldiers are people's children and citizens of this country. They are not criminals and entitled to be protected by government." Adonu said the court martial president's bias needed no expert interpretation as his actions since the case started had shown that he was ready to convict them with or without evidence.

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