Some of the soldiers had on May 14, fired shots at the General Officer Commanding of the newly created 7 Division of Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mohammmed, in Maiduguri. The act is viewed in the military as mutiny.
A source said: "The GOC's visit coincided with the arrival of the corpses of soldiers killed in an ambush in Chibok on the night of May 13, 2014.
"The apparently agitated soldiers, on sighting the corpses of their slain colleagues became hysteric. Some opened fire on the GOC, who was lucky to have escaped unhurt. However, the bullets hit and seriously injured some of his bodyguards, who also fled to safety."
Names of the soldiers who were sentenced to death are:
Jasper Braidolor, David Musa, Friday Onuh, Yusuf Shuaibu, Igonmu Emmanuel, Andrew Ugbede, Nurudeen Ahmed, Ifeanyi Alukagba, Alao Samuel, Amadi Chukwuma, Alan Linus, and Stephen Clement.
They were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, mutiny, attempt to commit murder (shooting of the vehicle of the GOC); insubordination to a particular order; insubordination and false accusation.
The President of the Court Martial, Maj. Gen. C.C. Okonkwo, said the 12 soldiers were found guilty of three of the most heinous charges bars.
The legal team of the convicts pleaded with the court martial to temper justice with mercy. The team reeled out pathetic stories about the family backgrounds of the convicted servicemen.
One was said to be the only son of his octogenarian widowed mother. Another is the father of a five-month-old baby.
The defence team argued that giving them maximum sentence would do more harm than good, adding that it would increase the agony of their dependants.
Those discharged are David Robert, Mohammed Sani, Iseh Ubong, Sebastine Gwaba and Naaman Samuel. Jeremiah Echocho was sentenced to 28 days with hard labour.
Military sources said that soldiers at the cantonment had been complaining of insufficient ammunition, food and allowances prior to the GOC's visit.
They were also reportedly unhappy and their morale was at its lowest ebb because there had not been troop rotation for a long time since their deployment to combat Boko Haram terrorists in the North- East