Nigerian Army Releases Soldier Detained for Emotional Video About Family Visit Struggle

Nigerian Army has released one of its personnel detained over a viral video expressing frustration over being unable to visit his family due to transport fare.

Obinna John Obasi, stationed in Maiduguri, Borno State, was arrested in February after a video of him lamenting his year in the bush in Borno and being given a pass to visit his family went viral.

He was told at the motor park that the transport fare to his town was N35,000, meaning that the trip would cost him N70,000 to and fro. Obasi claimed that he had no option but to return to the bush.

After the viral video, the soldier was locked up in the “guardroom” after the video was considered embarrassing by army authorities.

He was later moved to the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police in Abuja, where he was kept at the Special Investigation Bureau underground cell, which is meant for Boko Haram terrorists in the nation’s capital.