Retired Commodore Kunle Olawunmi, who was invited by Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) over his recent comments on insecurity in the country, terrorism and its alleged sponsors yesterday honoured the invitation.
He was accompanied by his lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana.
Recall that Olawunmi had said that Boko Haram terrorists had, under interrogation by military authorities, named some serving governors, legislators and presidency officials as sponsors of the murderous group.
The professor of global security studies, while speaking on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily on August 25, blamed the government of President Muhammadu Buhari for its failure to demonstrate the necessary political to prosecute the sponsors because of its alleged partisanship.
“Recently, 400 people were gathered as sponsors of Boko Haram, why is it that the Buhari government has refused to try them? Why can’t this government bring them to trial if not that they are partisan and part of the charade going on?
“You remember this Boko Haram issue started in 2012 and I was in the military intelligence at that time. We arrested those people. My organisation actually conducted interrogation and they (suspects) mentioned names.
“I can’t come on air and start mentioning names of people that are presently in government that I know that the boys that we arrested mentioned. Some of them are governors now, some of them are in the senate, some of them are in Aso Rock,” he said in the interview.
On the attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) where two officers were killed and another abducted, Olawunmi described the invasion as an “aberration”.
He said the NDA, like other military environments in the country, carelessly opens its doors to everyone on Fridays for Jumat prayer.
“It is an aberration; you don’t attack the Nigerian Defence Academy and get away with it.
“In 2017, I carried out an investigation by the minister of defence that wanted me to check what was going on with the training and the security there (NDA). I remember I spent about a week in the NDA with the commandant and the staff but something struck me: every Friday, the gate of NDA is thrown open and everybody has access to pray in the mosque.
“On Fridays, you are going to see the same thing happening across all military formations in the country…If you go to Defence Headquarters, I served at the Defence Headquarters as the Deputy director, defence administration between 2015 and 2017, throughout my two years at the Defence Headquarters, I received visitors twice because of the strict security architecture there but every Friday, the gate of the Defence Headquarters is thrown wide open for everybody to come in and observe Jumat.
“That is the time the terrorists have the time to profile our security environment. It has always been the case. I have served the military intelligence for the past 35 years. Our problem is religion and socio-cultural,” he added.
Speaking after the engagement with the DIA, Falana said Olawunmi returned home after a friendly chat with his “colleagues.”
“I confirm that it was a friendly chat between Commodore Kunle Olawunmi and his colleagues.
“I was allowed to represent the retired military officer during the friendly chat in strict compliance with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act,” he said.
Recall that the defence headquarters had, on Sunday, August 29 stated that Olawunmi was merely invited to shed more light on his claims during the interview.
The director, defence information, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Sawyerr, said the invitation does not amount to arrest.
He said the invitation was part of the chief of defence staff’s tour of the six geopolitical zones, soliciting support from retired senior officers to address ravaging insecurity.
“The intelligence community is like a family; somebody from the DIA watching the senior officer talk and now called him. ‘Oga if you have such information it will be good you share with the DIA. Please, can you come on Tuesday and share with us so that it will assist security agencies tackle the problem on time.’ Does that constitute warrant of arrest? Invitation is not an arrest.”
