Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has criticised former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd).
Olayinka faulted Buratai’s comment on the ongoing dispute between Wike and some military officers accused of grabbing land in Abuja.
Buratai had reportedly described the face-off between Wike and the military officers over the alleged encroachment on a plot of land in the capital city as a potential security threat.
Reacting to the remark, Olayinka said the retired general should be more concerned about soldiers trained to fight insurgency being used as guards for private or uncompleted buildings.
He said: “When I read that statement coming from the former Chief of Army Staff, Buratai, I was like he’s not concerned about talking to a uniformed man who should be at the war front, who should be at the Chad Basin confronting terrorists being converted to private guards, guarding uncompleted buildings.
“Which one is a security threat to Nigeria? Between soldiers trained to defend Nigeria, now being converted to security guards, ‘Mai guard’ let me use the word.
“That’s exactly what they went to do, uncompleted building, you see, you can safeguard property when people are living there and not a property under construction.
“You are protecting property under construction instead of you to be in Borno. You protect properties if it poses a security threat to Nigerians.
“What security threat does it pose to you and I? It doesn’t pose any security threat and a former chief of army staff is more concerned about a military officer who went to do an unlawful duty.”
Olayinka made the remarks while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, insisting that the soldiers’ presence at a disputed property had no connection to national security.