The detention of former Theater Commander of the Operation Lafiya Doyle, Maj.-Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi is rubbing some Yoruba elders the wrong way as they have warned that no harm must befall him.
In a viral March video, Adeniyi could be seen among forlorn troops after a battle with insurgents lamenting inferior ammunition and wrong intelligence given to troops.
After the video, he was redeployed as Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Doyle to the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) as a Senior Research Fellow in April. He was moved to the Army Headquarters, also in Abuja, earlier this month.
The Herald reported, quoting Premium Times, earlier in the month that the general was expected to face a court-martial at an unspecified date.
But some Yoruba leaders who reacted to Adenyi’s ordeal have warned the Army not to punish him unjustly.
According to Vanguard, the leaders spoke under the aegis of Yoruba Summit Group (YSG) during a meeting over the weekend.
Some of those who weighed in on the matter, the paper reported, were: Afenifere leader, Reuben Fasoranti, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Prof. Banji Akintoye, Iba Gani Adams, Yinka Odumakin, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and many others.
The elders said that no one should be punished for speaking the truth since the plight of troops in the North-East was public knowledge.
The elders equally lamented the death of Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, and charged the Federal Government to constitute an independent panel of inquiry on the circumstances resulting in her demise.
“The Yorùbá nation notes with sadness that on the very day our daughter Tolulope went home, a senior Military officer: Major General Olusegun Adeniyi was court-martialled for daring to voice out the lack of tools and equipment needed to prosecute a Boko Haram war that has become far too prolonged and far too controversial in light of the numerous calls to the Federal Government to change the Military ’Service Chiefs who have failed to provide the highest quality of security, leadership and delivery of forthrightness in their duties.
“We the Yorùbá condemn in strong terms, the cherry-picking of our fighters, soldiers, officers as either cannon fodders easy-targets, operational fall-guys and being used for experimental disciplinary measures, whilst the real culprits, go free!
“Critical to this development are also pieces of news items of friendly fire from soldiers of a particular part of the country using their guns on our fighters who dare carry the battle deep into the Boko Haram held territories,” the elders said.