Expdonaloaded News; Army warns soldiers against friction with civilians

NIGERIAN Army yester­day warned soldiers in La­gos State against constant friction with members of the public, saying it will no longer tolerate the excesses of such soldiers.
The new General Officer Commanding 81 Division, Major General Isidore Edet, who gave the warning, said henceforth any soldier who tried to embarrass the ser­vice by engaging civilians negatively would bear the consequences.

He spoke during his maiden visit to the 9th Bri­gade Headquarters in La­gos, explaining that, “for every act of indiscipline committed by any soldier, the soldier that commits such act of indiscipline must be ready to take the consequences. If your com­manders try to shield you, you will face the conse­quences and your com­manders will also face the consequences. I am saying this with all emphasis be­cause in my 33 years of ser­vice, there has never been any unit that I go to, that I compromise discipline.”
General Edet said the is­sue that always caused fric­tion between soldiers and civilians was the problem of non-payment of bus fare by soldiers.
His words: “Most of you want to enter somebody’s ‘danfo’ free, even when the driver of the bus must have hinted you that there is another uniform person already in the bus, you will still force yourself in and refuse to pay. Most of the time that is what used to bring friction between soldiers and the bus driv­ers and by extension, other members of the public.
“I will resist this act, I will stand by the danfo drivers and their actions to resist such actions and so when you take that as a right, you will continue to have such problems and that is what I will never tolerate in my command. If voluntarily, the bus driver allows you good, but when you want to take it as a right and deprive the driver of his fare and it leads to fracas and people being brutalized and it becomes a media problem, I will not take it, you will pay for that.”
He urged soldiers to key into the vision of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieuten­ant General Tukur Bura­tai, which was to have a professionally responsive army in the conduct of its constitutional responsi­bilities, adding that officers and soldiers must be ready to carry out the marching orders given by President Muhammadu Buhari for insurgency to end in three months.