Nigerian Army deny claim that its officers beatman to death in Ogun state, threaten to sue twitter user

The Nigerian Army has denied claims by a

twitter user that some soldiers of the 174

battalion Ikorodu, Lagos state, beat a man

identified as Mr George to death at the Ogijo

area of Ogun state(Read here). A statement

released by the Brigadier General Sani

Kukasheka Usman, Director Army Public

Relations, says the allegation is a figment of

the twitter user's imagination. The ARmy has

asked the twitter user to tender an

unreserved apology otherwise they would take

legal action against him. Read the statement





""The attention of the Nigerian Army has been

drawn to media reports and photograph of the

corpse of one Mr. George of Ogijo, Ogun

State, allegedly "murdered" by troops of 174

Battalion Ikorodu. The story and the

photograph were ostensibly shared by one Mr.

Kenny Abel Adesanya through his twitter

handle. However, investigation have

confirmed that the allegation is not true,

rather it was figment of Mr. Adesanya's

imagination borne out of mischief, hatred for

the Nigerian Army and attempt to divert

attention from those that committed the

dastardly act.

For the avoidance of doubt, the location where

the incident took place, Ogijo, is in Ogun State

and 174 Battalion does not have any

deployment there, neither do any of our

troops patrol the area.

To further buttress this fact, a team was

despatched to Ogijo Divisional Police Station,

Ogun State, to investigate the matter. It was

confirmed that the incident dates back to 8th

March 2017, one Mr. George (now late), was

threatened by the son of his landlady that he

will invite his soldier friends to come and beat

him for failing to pay his rent which was long

overdue. On the said day, the tenant was

taken from the compound by three young

men and beaten up. The case was reported to

Ogijo police station. The parties involved were

arrested and their statements taken.

Thereafter, the police wanted to charge the

matter to court for which the tenant and the

landlady opted for out of court settlement.

The young men who carried out the beating

were neither arrested nor their identity

ascertained by the police. The police claimed

the landlady son said he used his friends. The

case was however treated as assault and

discharged. No report was sent to the military

authorities because no soldier was involved.

On 24th March 2017, the said tenant Mr.

George died in his house and his corpse was

taken to the frontage of the landlady who

quickly reported to the Ogijo Police Station.

She was arrested and the corpse was

deposited at the mortuary. The son of the

landlady who is currently at large, is being

hunted by the police authority.""



Consequently, we wish to call on Mr. Adesanya

all other persons that shared the story and the

media to understand that Mr. George was not

murdered by any soldier, let alone those

serving in 174 Battalion and should correct

this erroneous impression. Additionally, Mr

Adesanya should render an unreserved

apology to 174 Battalion in particular and the

Nigerian Army, over this false allegation,

failure of which would attract legal action

against him.



We would like to seize this opportunity to

advise that the media and indeed people to

always cross check their facts before

publication, posting on the web or broadcast.

Thank you for your kind cooperation.



Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman

Director Army Public Relations