Percy Onyeka
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, has confirmed the arrest of a soldier who criticised Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State in a viral video.
Sanwo-Olu had on January 2, ordered the arrest of a soldier and some Okada riders for driving against the traffic on the Lagos-Badagry expressway.
The governor gave the order while returning from Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, where he had gone to inaugurate a project sponsored by Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu.
Reacting to the governor’s action, a soldier, in a widely shared video on Thursday, criticized Sanwo-Olu for labeling a soldier “useless” in front of “bastard civilians.”
Speaking Tuesday after the commissioning of an officers’ mess in Enugu state, Lagbaja condemned the soldier who was caught by Governor Sanwo-Olu driving against traffic (one-way), saying his conduct did not represent the entire Nigerian Army.
The army chief noted that many viral videos showing soldiers criticising the Lagos state governor were fake, clarifying that only one authentic video was investigated, and the soldier involved had been apprehended.
He said the army had taken steps to instruct soldiers on how to behave in the different localities they are deployed.
He said: “I want to say that the soldier who was apprehended by the Governor of Lagos State while plying on the one-way does not represent the Nigerian Army because, in every respect, it contravenes what we stand for, which is discipline as an army and the constitution and the laws of Lagos. We frowned upon that, as did the army.
“But for what you alleged -that soldiers have gone to social media casting aspersions on the office of Lagos State Governor- I will say it is only one soldier that has done that.
“The army has investigated; that soldier has been apprehended, and we are investigating. For every other comical act that you have seen, they are not personnel of the Nigerian Army. We have investigated that.
“From the mode of dressing of some of them, you will know that they are not personnel of the Nigerian Army. And from the utterances that these people made, you will know from what angle these people are talking.
“They are talking about politics, not the army. We are serious about upholding the law and rule and remaining disciplined, and we will enforce that on our personnel.”
