EXCLUSIVE: Soldier who warned against shooting #EndSARS protesters held incommunicado in new battalion
The Nigerian Army has moved a soldier who warned against deployment of live bullets to quell #EndSARS protesters to another battalion in the South-east, Peoples Gazette can report.
Lance Corporal Harrison Friday was arrested on Tuesday after the military identified him as the man behind a video that went viral over the weekend. Mr. Friday warned in the video that colleagues should not attack #EndSARS protesters because doing so would be costly for the country.
“The fight the civilians are fighting is our fight, do not let them (the Nigerian government) use us. If you are firing civilians, the bullets may hit your brother or your sister”, he said in the video that circulated just two days before the brutal killing of unarmed protesters.
The Army initially dismissed the video as coming from a fake soldier, but later confirmed Mr. Friday was a genuine corporal and took him into custody.
The Army, which had reneged on its earlier statement describing the video as fake, identified the soldier as Harrison Friday, while accusing him of hiding behind the mask to commit cybercrimes.
He was also accused of cybercrime in posting the video, but his trial was not immediately scheduled.
On Thursday, military sources disclosed to the Gazette that Mr. Friday is being held incommunicado inside a guard room at 103 Battalion, Enugu.
“Nothing is wrong but (he is) not allowed to discuss with people”, our military sources said.
It was not immediately clear whether the soldier had contacted a lawyer.
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