Lawyer faults Nigerian Army over alleged abduction of Mark Chidiebere, demands public apology.

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]There is a Chidara mark and I'm out to thank every Nigerians out there that came out to help my husband out of this situation. I want to thank the guys here. They've been more than a family.

[00:00:18]As you can see, this is how they want it. Is that this is how they want it?

[00:00:21]>> Yes.

[00:01:31]discussions Of course, before that I've met with the wife a couple of days ago when his whereabouts was were not known.

[00:01:39]I make this press statement to clarify some mischievous statements by some persons that the Nigerian army has amplified to push falsehood.

[00:01:53]First, I've been involved with the military.

[00:01:57]I've worked with government, uh special advisor to the president, special advisor on foreign affairs.

[00:02:03]Chief executive of one of the leading parastatals. I have conducted training for the Nigerian military.

[00:02:09]I've conducted training for the DSS Institute. I've been a lecturer for the guest course.

[00:02:15]I've been a lecturer for the Nigerian Future Center of the army.

[00:02:19]I've been with the Defense College. So, I understand the workers and integrity of the national institutions.

[00:02:27]As far back as 13 years ago, 15 years ago, myself, Professor Jega, a couple of other Nigerians were commissioned by the Chief of Defense Staff, Chief of Defense Staff uh Air Commodore uh Francis Dike, to tour the whole Nigerian military establishment to teach on civil-military relationship. In fact, this book was published edited by Professor Wole Soyinka and Air Vice Marshal Paul Dike. This is This is the book that came out of it. You can see in chapter chapter four, it's the rule of law here. I believe that someone and Jega, all of us. So, I I'm I'm speaking both on my integrity and experience as a senior lawyer and as somebody who has worked tremendously to promote civil-military relationship.

[00:03:15]First, the military kidnapped, basically, Justice.

[00:03:24]He was normal routine, went to eat.

[00:03:27]After eating, they jammed his phone.

[00:03:30]The DSS accosted him and said, "We want to talk with you." He said, "Okay, let's talk. I'm a citizen. I've nothing to hide."

[00:03:35]And suddenly they all emerged with guns cocked and, you know, menacing, hooded him, covered him with a hood, and dumped him and took him. And for days, handcuffed, brought in the sun, hooded completely with eyes, nose, everywhere blocked.

[00:03:53]And in the night they would take him to a cold room until you guys, patriotic Nigerians, bloggers, and communicators raised this issue, and the military had to take him to the DSS.

[00:04:09]I spoke with DSS officials, very wonderful guys, professional.

[00:04:13]Because of the state he was, the way he has been badly treated, brutalized, and sick, the first thing the DSS did was to take him to a clinic for checkup.

[00:04:23]And up to yesterday evening, when I was there, the DSS have been checking on him, monitoring his BP, and providing him very good treatment.

[00:04:33]So, first, factual, this was an abduction, a Gestapo-like abduction.

[00:04:42]This is not a case of a citizen who was asked to explain whatever he communicated. That's number one. Number two, he was kept for days, covered, hooded, chained behind, and kept in the dead sun purposely to torture, humiliate.

[00:05:03]And today, he has all the time I was with him, you can see that cough coming from cold up to now. And the there's The last time I spoke with the director of operations, and they promised to, you know, look at that medically and provide him with the support he needs. So, they've been fantastic. The The DSS have been very good in managing his case.

[00:05:22]Now, the charge was yesterday, and the charge said nothing. There's nothing about this around terrorism or around, you know, disrupting or inciting the military. It's simply cyberstalking.

[00:05:36]Now, cyberstalking relates to offenses of persons who continuously harass others through the cyber activities.

[00:05:46]He does nothing. Harassment is a post he got from a military source, which is not different from what generals retired have been saying about the concept of the military. So, this is important.

[00:05:57]This statement from Mr. Justice is similar to statements we received in the past from many retired generals who talk about the welfare of workers. And this is very important to make, that it's the military that is undermining national security in this circumstance.

[00:06:18]What happens everywhere is that we are All of you here today are the victims of terrorism. And all of us have incentive to ensure that the military decisively defeats the terrorists. And what Mr. Justice did, and I was there with him when the DSS debriefed him, I read his statement, he agreed that the statement was his own voluntarily. Nowhere in that statement did he ever say, and nobody has suggested to him that he ever had correspondence with any soldier or anybody after his post. He was very clear, very patriotic, and he said that he does his videos to explain political situations so that citizens can be engaged in the activities of their country. I want to put on record that I've associated with these guys, Mr. P, Ghana, all of them. These are Nigerians who want to bring back civic commitment to Nigerian state.

[00:07:17]These are not persons who want Nigeria to be undermined.

[00:07:21]And I want to challenge the generals.

[00:07:23]They're the people who have benefited from this country. They've got their privileges. And maybe they don't care about our soldiers who are suffering.

[00:07:32]Because if they do, they would call these guys into conference and say, "Help us. Thank you for helping us."

[00:07:39]Because the idea is feedback. I've been a chief executive of an institution.

[00:07:42]I've worked with the foreign affairs, and I've dealt with security of this country. What we need is that citizens give honest feedback to those in power to improve. What Justice was doing was to provide feedback like a responsible citizen. So, I want to put it on record here that say malicious miscommunication suggesting there was any intent to undermine national security or suggesting that the video was uh presented with a view to creating unrest. The video was a plea by citizens on the line. Our soldiers, our gallant soldiers on the line, said, "Help us so that our leaders can see the conditions." All over the world, during the Gulf War, during the war against uh the US terrorism, what happened Abu Ghraib? It was American media that reported the failure of the American military in managing those combatants. Nobody persecuted them. Today, CNN, all the media houses are reporting on some of those shortfalls of the war with a view to enabling the war department improve their effort. So, why I'm making this case, I'm in touch with the DSS, and I think it's in the interest of justice, in the interest of the military, that this case should have been should not have brought to court. It's laughable.

[00:09:01]It trivializes the idea of executive responsibility.

[00:09:06]What we expected, and what I would advise the military to do, is to call up these guys and talk with them and say, "You are citizens who are patriotic, helping to promote the welfare of Nigerian soldiers. We would like to give you facts that we have at our disposal, and encourage you to create a way of communication so that when you receive information, you can come to us." That's what a responsible leadership should be doing. Not persecuting a citizen whose manifest and clear purpose is to help the soldiers win this war, which we are the people suffering this war of terror.

[00:09:41]Not the generals in the barracks, not the generals in the in the big buildings who are protected by soldiers' battalions, but ordinary citizens who every day will be kidnapped or whose main family member will be kidnapped and they will forced to pay ransom. I want to put it clear that I have spoken to Chidi, I have spoken to the officers, I was there to 1 hour interrogation. He maintained justice, he maintained his position that his videos and activities get at letting citizens know how government is working and helping them participate. And that he took this profession and got certified as a videographer for the purpose of engendering civic participation in politics. I think they should actually be commending him. It is so sad that he was brutalized, but I'm happy that the DSS is taking corrective measure over the brutality of General I want to end this on this note that this is the wife of Chidi and all of these guys, Mr. P, Ghana, all of them have proved to be courageous patriotic Nigerians. I was first invited as to be chairman of NEMA and I went for clearance. I told the DG, the DSS that in the US the State Department, the FBI, the CIA work closely with civic communicators because these are the people you need to work with.

[00:11:01]I understand the sensitivities and the fact that we are not doing very well in this managing this country. But the way to cover it is not to attack citizens and brutalize them and jail them and craft senseless charges against them. Of course, we're going to meet those charges in the court. I want to thank Marshall and all the other lawyers yesterday who were there because by the time I got there, I was from somewhere else, I couldn't participate and they effectively handled the case. But we're going to come back with a motion to get a judge to quickly grant him bail because the doctors in DSS are of the view that he needs proper medical treatment because the DSS have done their best, but the military brutalizing. You can't tie a citizen behind his back, hood him for 3 days, no see and bring to the sunlight and then wet his dried. He said, "Go and dry him." After dry him, you take him to the courtroom to wet him. For I mean, how does that really make sense? 21st century for what? Is that a terrorist?

[00:11:58]He's not implicated with any correspondence with terrorists. His only offense is that our citizens, our soldiers who are suffering in the frontline sent me a video and said, "Help us let our leaders know."

[00:12:10]The leaders should have responded by calling him and providing information and doing better and not to brutalize him, arrest him like commander operation. I mean, even terrorists are not arrested in that Gestapo manner. I think they should really send an apology, withdraw this case and repair their lack of intelligence in public communication. The the the 21st century governance is about public communication. It's about sincere engagement to citizens and about persuading them to see how much you're doing and helping you do better and not in brutalizing them and and putting them in dungeons and then going on air with some very corrupt media platforms to go and spread misinformation. To be clear straight away, the charges against him are charges relating to what we call cyberstalking. There is no indication, no suggestion throughout the 1 hour grilling by DSS, I was there in person.

[00:13:03]They never never suggested that he tried to cause unrest among soldiers or that he was in communication with any soldier for the purpose of inciting or purpose of doing anything contrary to national security. As a matter of fact, Justice keep repeating that his video is to help leaders do better so that together