The Nigerian Army Council has approved the promotion of 421 senior officers from various ranks to the next higher rank.
Those promoted include 39 Brigadier-Generals to Major-Generals, 97 Colonels to Brigadier Generals, 105 Lieutenant-Colonels to Colonels and 180 Majors to Lieutenant-Colonels.
Among the Brigadier-Generals promoted to the rank of Major-General is Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo, Commander of 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, the unit of the army that sent troops to Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on the evening of October 20, 2020 to disperse peaceful protesters.
Despite video evidence that so many protesters were killed, Brigadier-General Taiwo, who has been representing the army at the sitting of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government to unravel the mystery behind the incident, claimed no one was killed.
He has also given at least seven inconsistent accounts of what truly transpired at the Lekki Toll Gate that fateful night.
The most recent of his narrative came last Saturday when Taiwo told the panel that soldiers deployed to the scene led by Col. S.O. Bello, Commanding Officer of 65 Battalion, and Brig.-Gen. F.O. Omata actually went there with live ammunition – a claim totally in contrast with his earlier position on the issue.
He, however, said the live ammunition was for backup purpose and not used by soldiers deployed to the scene.
Taiwo is son of a former military governor of Kwara State, Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo, famous for the massacre of over 700 persons in Asaba, Delta State, during the Civil War.
