From From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

The Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) has knocked Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, for saying the military would go after leaders of self-determination groups.

Secretary-General of YCE, Dr. Kunle Olajide, in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun, said it is not the duty of the military to go after agitators, but that of the Police Force, Department of State Security, and other agencies, saddled with the responsibility of internal security.

“Military, in my own humble opinion, has no right to go after anybody. Anybody, who in the opinion of the civil policing authority, which is Nigeria Police, is breaching or violating the law, the police or the intelligence agency is charged with the responsibility of inviting such people for interrogation, not the Chief of Army Staff going after.

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“I would have thought the proper thing to do for the Chief of Army Staff is to discuss with the Inspector- General of Police, and the Director of Directorate pf State Department (DSS), and so on. Then, in the event they consider, perhaps, anybody’s statement as being inciting, in such a case, then the appropriate authority should invite quietly the characters and interrogate them. If they discovered that they are harmless, they would not do anything to them, they will allow them to go, and perhaps advised to make less inflammatory statements.

“But for the Chief of Army Staff, the primary responsibility of the military, to the best of my knowledge, is to protect and defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria. They are not to go after people, voicing their opinions. If these people breached the law, we have other agencies that are in position to handle the matter. That is my position. But when I read the news, I did not attach any serious meaning to it. I thought it was not proper.”

Asked if the agitators were fighting a just cause or not, Olajide answered: “They are showing their frustration and dissatisfaction with the system. They are not the only ones dissatisfied with the system. Majority of Nigerians, most of us, including my humble self, are not happy with the system of the present administration. Indeed, there is a lot of injustice, absence of equity, fairness and justice. We believe some Nigerians are more special than the others to the current administration, which, to the best of our knowledge, is not good enough.”