“We must stop the wearing of uniform by any soldier in town" Femi Falana

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, has proposed that soldiers should be stopped from wearing the army uniform outside the barracks in order to check some of the criminal activities being perpetrated in the society.

According to him, some soldiers, while wearing uniform outside the barracks, provide cover for criminals and help them to beat security checks.

Falana said this in Lagos while delivering the 19th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture last week.

He cited the case of notorious kidnap suspect, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, whom, he said, had a soldier escort in his gang.


“We must stop the wearing of uniform by any soldier in town. That boy, Evans, any time he had kidnapped in any part of the city, a soldier, a corporal, will be with the driver in the front and anytime they got to a checkpoint, esprit de corps, they would salute the criminal. The corporal, after investigation, they found N96.5m in his account. But if we make it impossible for soldiers to be in uniform outside the barracks, we can stop some of the criminalities going on in our country,” Falana said.

He reiterated his argument that President Muhammadu Buhari must allow the courts to determine what amounted to threat to national security.