Army detains soldier for insulting governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, has announced the arrest of a soldier who, in a widely shared video, ridiculed the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
A soldier and a few Okada riders were ordered to be arrested by Sanwo-Olu on January 2 for veering against traffic on the Lagos-Badagry expressway.
The governor issued the directive after he left Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, where he launched a project supported by President Bola Tinubu’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Commenting on the governor’s action, a soldier, now in custody, shared a viral video on Thursday where he 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 bemoaned driving against traffic by the soldiers while adding that the behaviour was against the guiding ethics of the Nigerian Army.
He also said the soldier who attacked the image of the state governor has been detained.
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.”
