By Usman Okai Austin.
But that will not prevent me from putting the events that led up to his name and pictures of him with his innocent family trending in the social media in connection with the on-going nationwide #EndSARS protest in proper perspective.
Only a few persons in Nigeria can claim ignorant of the current mass protests and their cause. And most of us have witnessed how the mass protests across Nigeria swelled gradually, gaining momentum to the admiration of all change loving Nigerians.
The initial peaceful conduct of Nigerian youths coupled with their uncommon resilience that resulted in the Government conceding some grounds was most commendable.
However, most Nigerians became concerned with the violent turn of events particularly in Abuja, Benin and Lagos where arson, murder, looting and jail-breaks took center stage over the last 3 days.
The progressive youth mass movement for change in Nigeria assumed dangerous dimensions obviously from activities of criminals, hoodlums and those many believe were sponsored by Nigerian Governments to discredit the protests.
Whatever the cause of the sudden change of the peaceful texture of the protest to their current dangerous dimensions that we are now beholding, Nigerians demand that both the legitimate protesters and other law abiding Nigerians deserve to be protected along with their properties. And this is rightly so.
Although the Nigerian Public had somewhat discredited the Nigeria Police Force, it nonetheless protested use of the military for this assignment and had warned the Nigerian Government about this consistently.
Yet, the situation continued to degenerate dangerously under the nose of the motley squads of helpless Policemen that were deployed to keep the protests peaceful and prevent them from being hijacked by criminals and hoodlums.
Yet, the protests were indeed hijacked in Abuja, Benin and Lagos making the legit protesters to fear for their lives even though they remained resolute.
It was under this circumstance that certain Nigerian Army Commanders, including Brig-Gen Omata received orders to maintain safe distances around certain hot spots to support the Police if need be.
I gathered that Lekki and environs are within the Operational Areas of Responsibility of the 81 Div Garrison which Gen Omata commands.
The area perhaps may have some degree of operational overlaps between the 81 Div Garrison and 65 Battalion of the Nigerian Army based in Bonny Camp. That I could not ascertain as at the time of writing this piece.
But while some troops of 81 Div Garrison deployed remotely away from protesters that gathered around the Lekki Toll Gate, they began to hear gun shots close to the protesters suddenly.
The natural and professional instincts of the Garrison troops was to take cover and simultaneously call their Commander to report what was happening.
From my investigation, Brig- General Omata arrived the location after about 30 minutes that his troops reported sporadic shootings around protesters to indeed behold some soldiers still firing into the air and clearing some barricades that were erected by the protesters.
Acting Professionally to avoid friendly fire, Gen Omata took out his ID card, held it out visibly and announced his name and rank to the soldiers that were firing into the air to scare away the protesters.
Realizing that a superior officer had arrived the scene, the Commander of the troops that were doing the firing approached him. Gen Omata demanded to know what was going on and on whose authority it was being conducted.
The Subordinate Commander I also gathered, that the subordinate Commander told Gen Omata that he had orders from above to clear the barricades.
Gen Omata then ordered the Commander to withdraw his troops away from the protesters and tried to calm the situation as much as was practicable.
This is what I gathered transpired at Lekki Toll gate from my investigation. Now between Gen Omata and the subordinate Commander whose troops came firing, who is to be blamed?
Should we not have also identified the Subordinate Commander whom I gathered is one Lieutenant Colonel S.O Bello of the said 65 Battalion and establish who authorized him to deploy troops close to protesters?
While not trying to exonerate anybody, should we also not have tried to find out the actual role played by Gen Omata in the unfortunate incident at Lekki Toll Gate before declaring an 'intifida' on him and his family?
While I remain an avid supporter of the on-going peaceful protests across Nigeria, I will at the same time not support transfer of aggression that we collectively harbour against the bad eggs in our nation's security agencies to their good counterparts that are out there acting professionally to ensure peace and safety of all of us.
I am particular happy that the Government has undertaken to investigate the Lekki incident fully because at the end of it, the roles played by Gen Omata, the subordinate Commander and their troops will come to fore.
I advocate strongly that anyone that is found to be culpable in the unfortunate Lekki incident must be held accountable.
I also plead that those of them that acted professionally in support of the peaceful and lawful protesters should be equally commended.
Until the incident is investigated and the outcome made public, pointing fingers at any particular individual carrying out a lawful duty professionally and circulating his picture with that of his family on social media for odium sake amounts to scapegoatism.
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