Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has knocked some officers of the Nigerian Army for their alleged disregard for laid down rules across the country.
This is in reaction to a recent video that surfaced online where a man who claimed to be a soldier was arrested by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for plying one way along Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
NIGERIACRIME learnt that Sanwo-Olu was on his way to the inauguration of the Femi Gbajabiamila Conference Centre at Ojo campus of the Lagos State University (LASU) when he accosted the traffic offenders, which included the soldier.
Reacting to the incident which has sparked different responses due to the motive of the suspect, who introduced himself as a soldier and the response of the governor, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) vowed that the man will be prosecuted.
Falana lamented that men of the armed forces in the country often see themselves as above the law.
“In our country, men of the armed forces believe, as if we’re still under the military dictatorship, that they’re above the law,” he said.
“We’re even lucky there was no unfortunate incident. Last year August, some policemen were controlling the traffic around Ojo and because vehicles were stopped, soldiers came from one of the vehicles and pounced on one of the police officers and an inspector was killed in the process.
“Others were injured and detained in the barrack. Even to release the soldiers for investigation was problematic.
“It was the same thing in the case of Wadume, where a captain led soldiers to attack three policemen and killed them who had come to arrest a very dangerous criminal and what happened?
“Soldiers were even charged but a former Attorney-General Malami withdrew the case from the court that the soldiers will try them. These guys have been promoted.
“So, we must run a country where there is rule of law and there must be equality before the law and I’m going to ensure that we get the human rights community to pressurise the Lagos State Government to have that soldier tried.”