Court Martial demotes Gen. Adeniyi by three years over leaked video

The former Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Olusegun Adeniyi has been convicted by a Court Martial in Abuja and demoted by three years.

The court found Adeniyi guilty of violating military social media guidelines and ordered his demotion by at least three years on Monday.

An aide to the General, Private Tokunbo Obanla, who was prosecuted alongside Adeniyi, was also found guilty and sentenced to 28 days in jail with hard labour.

The convictions are however subject to confirmation by the military authorities.

Read also: After viral video where he exposed B’Haram’s firepower in attack on soldiers, army redeploys Gen Adeniyi

Punch reports that General Adeniyi pleaded guilty to three-count of unlawful use of social media, and damage to service property amongst other issues.

About eight months ago, a video of Gen Adeniyi complaining about lack of military equipment to combat Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East had gone viral online.

Gen Adeniyi, in the video, also complained that insurgents were outgunning troops, and that intelligence failure was responsible for an attack by insurgents that claimed dozens of soldiers.

Military authorities, who were embarrassed by the revelations, removed Gen Adeniyi from his command position and also suspended him.

The Nigerian Army subsequently filed charges of military social media guideline violations against him.

The General had denied any wrongdoing, stating that he did not leak the video, adding that his phone was in Obanla’s custody at the time of the incident, while Obanla, in his statement allegedly admitted to posting the video on social media in error.

Adeniyi’s lawyers have vowed to appeal the judgment.

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