₦airaland Forum

Nigerian Soldier Detained For Viral Video Calling On Governors, Other Politicians To Send Sons To Join Army, Fight Terrorists[/b


A [b]Nigerian soldier, Lance Corporal Rotimi Olamilekan (service number 18NA/77/1009 LCPL), serving with the 81 Division Task Force Battalion in Maiduguri, Borno State, hass reportedly been detained for allegedly making a social media post calling on politicians to allow their sons to enlist in the Nigerian Army.

According to sources who spoke with SaharaReporters, Olamilekan was arrested on February 11, 2026, during an operation after a signal was reportedly received directing that he be brought to Army Headquarters in Abuja.

The soldier was reportedly apprehended at his location by fellow officers and briefly detained in a cell in Maiduguri before being transferred to Abuja.

Sources further disclosed that he was not permitted to inform his family members about his arrest but managed to ask colleagues to notify his aged mother that he had been taken to Abuja.

Since his detention, Olamilekan has allegedly been denied access to legal representation.

In the video posted on his Facebook page prior to his arrest, the soldier called on top government officials including ministers, senators, members of the House of Representatives, and local government chairmen to allow their sons to be recruited into the Nigerian Army to join the fight against banditry and insurgency across the country.

“The way I dey lose my colleagues, it is getting to things wey be say e dey comot tears for my eye day by day. In this country, we have 36 governors, we have like 109 senators, even ministers, we have like almost 60 (The way I keep losing my colleagues is reaching a point where it brings tears to my eyes every day. In this country, we have 36 governors, about 109 senators, nearly 60 ministers),” he said in Pidgin English.

“We have House of Representatives, chairmen of local governments – 774. Let each one of them bring their son to join the Nigerian Army (We have members of the House of Representatives, and 774 local government chairmen. Let each of them send their own son to join the Nigerian Army).

It was also gathered that Olamilekan has spent four years and eight months in Maiduguri participating in counter-insurgency operations without promotion or additional benefits.

When SaharaReporters contacted the Nigerian Army spokesperson, Col. Appolonia Anele, she was unavailable and did not respond to a text message sent to her mobile phone.

SixSeven:
What was his offence? He talked too much truth

Bwilliam:
Ngl, this country is turning into something else.
What he said is 100% correct

Around 2018/2019, I was gearing up to join the Army until I clearly saw that the moto on their emblem/logo was written in Arabic. I researched further and saw that it was linked to Dan fodio.
I just washed my hands off from the armed forces entirely.

Bossman:
Nigeria is really a lawless country! This gentleman has done nothing wrong. There is no freedom of speech whatsoever.

PigTormentor:
You cannot be in any military and say such thing. Come and join the US army and tey that. You will be locked up by the Army sharply.

9ja4Change:
A group of soldiers in north-eastern Nigeria is refusing to fight Boko Haram militants until they receive better equipment, one of the mutineers has told the BBC.

The soldier, who requested anonymity, said at least 40 of his colleagues would refuse orders to deploy.

The military has not commented on the reported mutiny or the demands.

A state of emergency that was declared in three north-eastern states last year has failed to curb the insurgency.

Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks after being pushed out of its bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.

“Soldiers are dying like fowl,” the soldier, who said he and his colleagues were just outside Maiduguri, told the BBC service.

“The Nigerian army is not ready to fight Boko Haram,” he said, explaining that soldiers were not being given enough weapons and ammunition to take them on.

“Boko Haram are inside the bush, everywhere,” he said “They [senior commanders] are sacrificing soldiers,” he said.

Even the vehicles the soldiers were expected to use were old armoured cars that were not up to the job, he added.

A general in the army, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that he was unable to confirm the mutiny, but said “cowardice” was not uncommon in times of war – and any mutineers would be punished.

When the solder was asked if he feared being court-martialled for taking part in the mutiny, he said that a soldier could only be taken to task for refusing to go to war.

“I joined the army to defend my country”, but you cannot defend it without being equipped to do so, he said.

In April, Boko Haram caused global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state.

The group has also carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations, including that of moderate Muslim leaders opposed to its ideology.

SOURCE: BBC News