Military authorities have confirmed that 60 soldiers accused of mutiny will be arraigned today before a Court Martial sitting at Abacha Barracks in Abuja.

In a statement issued late Tuesday, Army Spokesman, Col. Timothy Antigha, said that the accused soldiers would be tried for refusing orders “in the course of ongoing military operations in the North-East zone.”

The trial will come two weeks after 12 soldiers were given death sentences for firing shots last May at their General Officer Commanding (GOC) in Maiduguri in Borno State.

Col. Antigha did not say how many soldiers would be tried, but media reports state that 60 low-ranked soldiers would face the military court.

They are accused of mutiny for refusing to be deployed in Maiduguri for an “operation”, but they all said they are not guilty of the charge.

The military has been under pressure to end the bloody Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives, made tens of thousands of others homeless and seen the terrorists make territorial gains in the North-East.

Last month, dozens of Nigerian soldiers refused to take part in an offensive to try to retake the captured Borno town of Gwoza, which the militants claimed as part of an Islamic Caliphate.

Some wives of the soldiers also demonstrated at the gate of a military base in Maiduguri to stop their husbands from heading to Gwoza over alleged obsolete weapons.

•Text courtesy of Nigerian Pilot. Photo shows Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah.