Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, COAS.
The army have arrested the soldier, who is seen in a viral video criticising Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, Taoreed Lagbaja, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), has said.
Lagbaja spoke on Tuesday after the commissioning of an officers’ mess in Enugu State.
Sanwo-Olu had penultimate Tuesday, ordered the arrest of a soldier alongside some motorcyclists for riding against traffic.
The governor was on his way to the Ojo campus of the Lagos State University (LASU), for the inauguration of the Femi Gbajabiamila Conference Centre, when the incident occurred.
While being arrested and taken away by security operatives, one of the offenders claimed to be a soldier.
Said the motorcyclist: “I am a soldier Oga sir”.
Replied the governor: “That’s the more reason I’m going to lock you up. You are telling me you are a soldier. That’s even the more reason I’m going to lock you up”.
Some days after the incident, an unknown soldier, in a viral video, berated Sanwo-Olu for ordering the arrest of his colleague and calling him “useless” in front of civilians.
In the video, the soldier says officers are not under the control of any state governor but take orders from their commandants.
The video elicited reactions on social media as some Nigerians criticised the soldier for calling out the governor over the arrest of his colleague.
Reacting to the incident, Lagbaja said the action of the soldier who violated traffic law in Lagos, did not represent the values of the Nigerian Army.
The army chief also disclosed that the army had arrested the soldier seen in the viral video criticising Sanwo-Olu over the traffic incident.
Said Lagbaja: “I want to say that the soldier that was apprehended by the Governor of Lagos State while plying on a one-way, does not represent the Nigerian Army.
“In every respect, he contravened what we stand for, which is discipline. He also contravened the Constitution and the law of Lagos State. We frown at that as the army.
“It’s only one soldier who had done that (referring to the soldier who criticised the governor). The army has investigated, that soldier has been apprehended and we are investigating.
For every other comical acts that you have seen on social media, they are not personnel of the Nigerian Army, we have investigated that”.
Lagbaja said troops would be educated on the need to uphold the laws in every community that they are deployed to serve.
