The Nigerian Army has refuted the reports that two officers connived with internet fraudsters (aka Yahoo boys) and collected illegal returns from soldiers at checkpoints in Edo State.
Soldiers at the 4 Brigade, Benin, Edo State, had protested the alleged criminal activities of two officers; Lt Col Emmanuel Ayegba, and Captain Eddyson Okakah, who connived with internet fraudsters, popularly called Yahoo boys, to make huge sums of money.
They were also allegedly involved in other illegal activities, which they denied.
Ayegba is the Commander of Operation Wabazigan, a security outfit set up by the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration in Edo State, while Okakah is the Officer-in-Charge (O/C) of Military Police at 4 Brigade, Benin.
The aggrieved soldiers pleaded with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya, to intervene, in order to restore sanity to the 4 Brigade and the entire army.
However, Captain Yemi Sokoya, the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, dismissed the report on Tuesday, in a statement, noted that the report was “bereft of truth and therefore entirely misleading”, saying the report is nothing short of an attempt to spite the image of the Brigade and by extension the Nigerian Army.
“The unsubstantiated allegations could be viewed as an attempt to defame the Brigade, despite the selfless efforts of its troops in ensuring security in Edo and the contiguous states.
“The Brigade exercises zero tolerance on troops engaged in activities detrimental to service discipline as defaulters are always sanctioned accordingly,” the statement revealed.
