Lt Gen TY Buratai visits wounded soldiers in Maiduguri following BOKO HARAM attack.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen TY Buratai, on Sunday, visited wounded soldiers at the 7 Division Medical Services and Hospital at Maimalari Cantonment Maiduguri.

The soldiers who sustained injuries following the encounter in Gorgi, Borno State, which resulted in casualties with resultant various degrees of injuries sustained by some troops of Theatre Command Operation LAFIYA DOLE on 22nd March 2020.

Some of the wounded soldiers are evacuated to 44 Reference Hospital Kaduna for more specialist treatment/management.

A statement from Col. Sagir Musa, Acting Director Army PR on Sunday, recalled that immediately the incident was reported, the COAS, on the 25th March 2020, instructed the Chief of coaching and Operations (CTOP) Army, Maj Gen EO Udo, to maneuver to the operational arena to ascertain the wounded and convey his goodwill message to them.

The visit, “Gen TY Buratai was amid the CTOP Maj Gen EO Udo, Theatre Commander Operation LAFIYA DOLE Maj Gen Faruk Yahaya, Commander Engineer Corps Maj Gen JS Malu, Chief of Military Intelligence Maj Gen SA Adebayo and Acting provost marshal Army Brig Gen H Ahmed.

The Nigerian army headquarters has reported that they have arrested the soldiers who vowed to rape women and daughters of Warri, Delta State, in a video clip.

The army in the Viral video swore to sexually molest the women without condoms and infect them with HIV, as a reprisal for the purported killing of a soldier by locals.

VIDEO: Nigerian Soldiers Threaten To Rape Women In Warri, Infect Them With HIV In Retaliation For Killing Colleague @HQNigerianArmy #CoronavirusLockdown #LockDownNigeria #COVID19 #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/7gsozO3lXb

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) April 3, 2020

A young man was reportedly killed in Warri as well by a solider for flouting the coronavirus lockdown order.
“Soldiers in a viral video using uncouth and uncivilized language purportedly threatening to molest women in Warri Delta State were arrested at 9 Brigade Ikeja Military Cantonment Lagos State on April 3, 2020, and further investigation is ongoing,” the army wrote in a statement sent to SteadyGist.

“The general public should be assured that the investigations will be swift and fair in accordance with applicable military laws. The outcome of the investigations will determine the most appropriate disciplinary measures that can be taken in the circumstances.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to reiterate that it would not tolerate any form of irresponsibility and indiscipline on the part of any of its personnel,” the statement further read.

#PressPlay: Another Video of @HQNigerianArmy Personnel Threatening Warri Residents#LockDownNigeria #COVID19 #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/E3E21uRM9D

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) April 4, 2020

Soldiers in Nigeria have long been accused of human rights abuses,
disproportionate use of force, extra-judicial killings, and rape while dealing with civilian populations. 


SOURCE: Pulse.

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, was in the right place at the right time to rescue five Nigerian men who were being maltreated by members of the Nigerian Army in Lagos.

In a video he shared on his official Facebook account on Saturday, December 1, 2018, the Sahara Reporters founder narrated how he came to the rescue of the five men while returning from the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God located on the outskirts of Lagos.

According to his version of events, the soldiers had made all five men lie by the side of the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway after they were stopped for driving ‘too close’ to their military vehicle.

Sowore approached the soldiers and demanded that the civilians be treated with dignity and not abuse and public humiliation. He further noted that the soldiers had no jurisdiction to carry out arrests in such situations.

He said, “On my way from Redemption Camp today, I ran into a detachment of soldiers subjecting some Nigerians to abuse and public humiliation on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, I alighted and approached the soldiers to ask why, they explained that the men were driving “too close” to their vehicle and they had suspicion that they could be ‘dangerous’.

“As an activist, I am familiar with this tactic by soldiers, so, I told them it was not their duty to carry out arrests and that if they considered them suspects it was the job of the police to investigate and prosecute them.”

In the video attached to the Facebook post, at least two soldiers of the Nigerian Army were captured on camera. According to the plain-clothed officer who directly addressed Sowore, he said the men, described as ‘these idiots’, were charging behind their vehicle and refused to heed an initial warning.

He further accused the men of looking suspicious before one of the uniformed soldiers said the accused men also initially refused to open their car boot to be searched. The plain-clothed officer added that the military vehicle was on its way to ‘pick a big man’ when the incident happened.

The accused men were later released after what Sowore described as a tense series of exchanges.

“As usual, the situation became tense but after a series of exchanges including a demand that we delete the video – which I resisted – the civilians were released,” he posted.

The presidential candidate further described the event as a vindication of his campaign promise to decrease military presence in civilian populations to avoid unnecessary abuse.

He said, “This confirms our position in running for office of the commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to decrease military presence on civilian territory so that our soldiers can concentrate on defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria rather than descending on civilians over every flimsy excuse on matters that should be the duty of the Police.”

 

One of his campaign promises is to sack all of the nation’s generals in the Nigerian Army if elected President at next year’s polls. During an interview in September, he said the generals are responsible for the country’s prolonged war against terrorism, alleging that they don’t want it to end.

He said, “With regards to security, there needs to be an overhaul of our security system. I’m going in there firing every damn general in the Army who’s involved in fighting terrorism in this country. They’re thieves and I know them.”

•Maikori Apologises For Hoax Killings •PFN Condemns President’s Silence Over Worrisome Deaths •Buratai Pledges Neutrality Of Nigerian Army

Following the gradual return of peace to the troubled Southern Kaduna, the state government has relaxed the 24-hour curfew imposed on Zangon-Kataf Local Council of Kaduna State.

This is as the chief executive officer of Chocolate City, Lagos State, Audu Maikori, who is an indigene of the area, has apologised for tweeting about the alleged killing of five students of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, Kafanchan, by Fulani herdsmen.

Media aide to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Samuel Aruwan, in a statement, yesterday, said that the 24-hour curfew has been relaxed, and it “is now in effect only between 6pm and 6am every day.”

According to him, the Kaduna State Security Council took the decision to relax the curfew following a review of the situation in the affected council. Maikori, remarked that after the school and the state government refuted the alleged killings, he decided to further investigate the story in order to present the evidence to the authorities.

Things, however, took a different turn after his driver, who claimed his younger brother was one of the victims, failed to, upon his return from the purported burial, provide the deceased’s identity card and pictures of the casket to enable him (Maikori) buttress his claim, and clear his name.

“The long and short of this is that on February 2, 2017, I went in company of his relative to the Lekki Police Station for questioning after his inability to provide any concrete evidence of the death of his brother and fellow students.”

Meanwhile, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has condemned the killings of Christians in Southern Kaduna, just as it maintains that President Muhammadu Buhari, has kept silence over the killings for so long.

The body, however, commended the efforts of Federal Government in its fight against insurgency, stating that the menace of the Fulani herdsman could prove to be worse than Boko Haram.

Speaking at a conference in Lagos on the state of the nation, Chairman, PFN, Lagos Chapter, Bishop Sola Ore, said: “We are left with no alternative than to conclude that there is something in the offing that is not clear to many Nigerians. What is happening in Southern Kaduna presently is worrisome, to say the least.

“Who has been prosecuted for the killings of innocent lives in Kaduna if I may ask? Who has been sent to jail? As a matter of fact, which of the Boko Haram insurgents has been prosecuted? Is this government saying it does not know the masterminds of these dastardly acts?” he queried.

The chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, has said that the army, which is in Southern Kaduna to restore peace would not take sides in the conflict.

The Army chief made this known when he paid courtesy visits to the Chief of Kagoro, Ufuwai Bonet and Emir of Jema’a, Alhaji Muhammad Isah at their palaces, yester. He said: “We are not going to spare anyone that is fomenting trouble in the area, no matter his standing.”