Olusegun Adeniyi Some Yoruba leaders have asked the army authorities to ensure that Olusegun Adeniyi, former theatre commander of Operat...
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| Olusegun Adeniyi |
There are reports that Adeniyi, a major-general, is to face
a court-martial.
A court martial is a legal proceeding for military officers.
It is similar to a civilian court trial.
Adeniyi was all over the news in March when a video where he
complained of the lack of weapons for troops fighting Boko Haram insurgents
went viral.
After the video, he was removed as commander of Operation
Lafiya Dole and transferred to the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja.
He was later moved to the Army Headquarters, still in Abuja.
At a meeting on the platform of the Yoruba Summit Group
(YSG) in Lagos during the weekend, Rueben Fasoranti, Afenifere leader; Ayo
Adebanjo, leader of Yoruba World Congress (YWC), Banji Akintoye, chairman of
Voice of Reason (VOR); Olusegun Mimiko, former governor of Ondo state, demanded
justice for Adeniyi.
Others who attended the meeting are Oye Ibidapo-Obe, former
vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos; Yinka Odumakin, spokesman of Afenifefre;
and Gani Adams, a leader of the O’dua Peoples Congress (OPC).
The leaders said the plight of soldiers on the battlefront
is well known, adding that no one should be punished for speaking the truth.
They also demanded an investigation into the death of
Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria’s first female helicopter pilot, who died in a freak
accident earlier in the month.
The leaders called on the federal government to constitute
an independent panel of inquiry to look into the death of Arotile, alleging
that there is more to the death of the late Arotile than being reported.
“We are also aware of the initial casual manner Tolulope
Arotile’s killing was treated by the authorities of the Nigerian Air Force
which is capable of raising suspicion in the minds people. It is better to
quickly douse tension and apprehension by coming out in the open,” they said in
a communique issued at the end of the meeting.
“The authorities did not imagine that so much noise would be
made, and so many questions would be asked. Her death was treated with levity,
just as many other cases where the lives of Nigerians do not seem to matter
anymore.
“The Yorùbá nation therefore demands a full-scale
independent investigation by an inclusive panel of experts. 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 Yoruba leaders also demanded the restructuring of the
country ahead of the 2023 general election.
“We the Yorùbá Nation therefore reject the holding of a
future general election before Restructuring Nigeria fiscally and structurally.
We state that the ship of state is veering off precariously into a precipice,
and that Nigeria is at the very edge of a political subsidence,” the communique
read.
“We are persuaded that nothing short of Restructuring can
save this country. Any attempt to go ahead with elections in 2023 without
addressing the issue of Restructuring would spell doom for Nigeria.
“Notwithstanding the interests of some elements in our midst,
it would be presumptuous to assume that the masses of the educated Yoruba
Nation will dive headlong into being part of the 2023 elections, when all
elements of its execution – the military, paramilitary, INEC, the judiciary
have been rigged and appropriated by a single very tiny minority ethnic group
in a small corner of the country.
“The emerging resolve of the Yoruba not to be part of vassal
state that Nigeria has become, is better managed with due accommodation before
any further degeneration and obvious consequences. Our quest shall henceforth
be to mobilise the masses of our peoples not to participate in any further
elections until the goal of Restructuring or Self-determination is attained.
“The Yoruba Nation is therefore making the clarion call for
confidence building steps to taken by the Buhari regime immediately, especially
as the historic 60th Anniversary of Nigeria as an independent Nation beckons on
October 1, 2020.
“Steps towards an urgent meeting of all Nationalities has to
be taken now to determine the nature of our relationships. Unless this peaceful
step is heeded to, so that Nigeria heads in the right direction thereafter, the
clear alternative would be for self-determination quests to proceed rapidly
without any further restraint.”
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