A pan-Yoruba Group, Yoruba Youth Forum, YYF has appealed to President
Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the illegal detention of a Nigeria
Airforce officer, Military Warrant Officer Oyebanji.
The group in a press statement by its President-General, Comrade
Abiodun Bolarinwa said that the way and manner, MWO Oyebanji is
illegally detained at Nigeria Air Force in Makurdi, Benue State shows
that there is an injustice going underground within the Airforce.
The Group wondered why a diligent and resourceful officer like MWO
Oyebanji could be treated like a common criminal over false
accusations levelled against him by senior officers in the service.
“As a responsible Yoruba Youth Group, we can no longer condone
injustice against another Yoruba man who our investigation has
revealed was framed for his refusal to give a cooperative loan to a
high ranking officer who was never a member of the cooperative
society.
YYF while describing the illegal detention of MWO Oyebanji as a height
of injustice urged President Buhari to urgently intervene and ensure
prompt release of MWO Oyebanji over the false allegations levelled
against him.
“Military Warrant Officer Oyebanji has been detained for over a year
now and efforts by his family to secure his release from detention
have been abortive. Our investigations showed that the predicament of
MWO Oyebanji started when he and others set up a Multipurpose
Cooperative Society to service soldiers and interested civilians
outside of the Nigeria Air Force to the disdain of their superior, one
Air Commodore L. I Oluwatoyin who was said to have requested for loan
but was told to follow due process. Air Commodore Oluwatoyin, who is
not a member of the cooperative, we gathered, was angered by Oyebanji
request that he should follow due process. He was said to have
subsequently launched an audit of the accounts of the independent
group and also had MWO Oyebanji detained at SNCO Mess during which
period he tried to forcefully change the EXCOs and seize the documents
of the cooperative society but the civilian legal adviser to the
cooperative called his bluff.”
The group while calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently
intervene in the illegal detention of MWO Oyebanji, also condemned the
NAF Authorities of frustrating efforts to secure the release of the
officer who has already been granted bail.