The cruelty of the Nigerian Army was recently brought to public attention when a retired personnel of the Nigerian Navy, Admiral F. B. I Porbeni directed some officers of the force working in collaboration with some local vigilante groups to embark on an illegal operation against the operators of Backyard Dealo Lounge Company Limited.
The story began with the lease of a property belonging to Admiral F. B. I Porbeni to Backyard Dealo Lounge Company Limited for 15 years.
The initial agreement was that, Backyard Dealo Lounge Company Limited will use the said property for 15 interrupted years but the terms of the agreement was later breached by Admiral Porbeni when he decided to use his influence and class in the society to intimidate, coarse and carryout illegal operations against the operators of the company.
Under normal circumstances, the retired Navy personnel is supposed to have waited until the expiration of the lease agreement, but one year to the expiration date, Admiral Porbeni directed one Mr. Jacob Agene and four others to unlawfully move into the property where the operators of Backyard Dealo Lounge Company were doing their lawful business to remove, destroy and cart away valuable items worth millions of Naira.
The painful aspect is that, the company recently did some internal and external renovations on the property and over N500 million was invested in the venture.
It is the desire of every company to recover their investments and make profits from such ventures, but in the case of Backyard Dealo Lounge Company Limited, the story is different and very pathetic.
Not only that a substantial amount of money was lost, but some officers of the Nigerian Army were drafted to harass workers, desecrate the business premises, destroy and steal properties and other valuable items belonging to the comapny without any valid court order.
People who tried to intervene were harassed and beaten by the combined team of the Nigerian Army and local vigilante groups led by one Mr. Jacob Agene.
As at the time of filing this report, valuable properties worth millions of Naira belonging to the company have been outside the premises of the leased property and rain has been destroying them.
Sadly, the said property has been leased to other business interests without any talk on how to reinstate the operators of Backyard Dealo Lounge Company Limited and compensate them for all the destructions done to them.
Now, the question is, when has the military become the agency for settling civil matters?
Was the leadership of the Nigerian Army aware of such illegal and unconstitutional operation directed by retired Admiral F.B.I Porbeni?
The Army has subjected themselves to civil authority since 1999, but certain persons are trying to bring the reputation of the Army to disrepute and public ridicule.
The Nigerian Army must stand tall and redeem it’s image in this case by doing the needful.
Therefore, justice demands that the operators of Backyard Dealo Lounge Company Limited whose properties were destroyed upon the directive of retired Admiral F.B.I Porbeni must be reinstated since their lease have not expired and as well be compensated for the destruction of their properties because justice is distorted when the victim pays for the conducts of the accused.
Ebiowei Dickson files this investigative report from Abuja
