A military court sitting in Abuja on Monday convicted a former commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi and demoted him by at least three years, over his complaints that the Nigerian troops lacked weapons to combat Boko Haram insurgents.
The Court Martial, which gave its judgment eight months a leaked viral video, also prosecuted the senior military officer’s aide, Tokunbo Obanla and found the duo guilty.
It was gathered that the former Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole pleaded guilty to violation of military’s social media guidelines and damage to service property amongst other issues. Though, both convictions are subject to confirmation by the military authorities.
Daily Trust recalls that Adeniyi also complained that insurgents were outgunning troops, noting that intelligence failure was responsible for an attack by insurgents that claimed dozens of soldiers.
The Nigerian Army, embarrassed by the revelations, removed the major-general from the frontline, transferred him to the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja, later suspended him and filed charges of military social media guideline violations, among others against him.
Adeniyi had denied any wrongdoing, explaining that he did not leak the video, because his phone was in Obanla’s custody at the time of the incident.
Obanla had, however, in his statement reportedly admitted to posting the video on social media in error. While Adeniyi’s lawyers vowed to appeal the judgment, the aide had been sentenced to 28-day jail term with hard labour.
