In this third part of an ongoing series, PREMIUM TIMES hereby present further details on the four army officers tasked by army headquarters to truncate Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election from the North-East zone of the country.

On Monday, this newspaper exclusively reported how Lamidi Adeosun, the then general officer commanding, 7 Division of the Nigerian Army based in Maiduguri, was ordered to ensure that the result from Borno State was not declared as a prelude to stalemate the presidential election.

The two-year investigation by this medium however revealed how Mr Adeosun, a major general, and his three lieutenants that ought to work on the plot, Hamisu Hassan (brigadier general), Danladi Hassan (colonel) and Mohammed Suleiman (colonel), united to kill the game.

This newspaper also published a transcript of a secret meeting by Messrs Adeosun, Hassan and Suleiman during the period.

We hereby provide a more detailed profiles of the officers involved.

1) Major General Lamidi Adeosun

Lamidi Adeosun, a major general, is an experienced infantry officer with cognate administrative and battle experience.

He is presently the chief of training and operations at the Nigerian Army headquarters in Abuja. At the time of the 2015 general elections, he was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) in charge of 7 Division of the Army in Maiduguri. He was later redeployed to head the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), headquartered in Chad.

He was replaced as MNJTF commander with General Lucky Irabor in May, 2017, and was recalled to the Defence Headquarters as Director of Administration.

In December 2017, Mr Adeosun achieved one of the major dreams of every military officer—that of heading one’s corps — as he was appointed as Commander of the Infantry Corps. He headed the Infantry Corps for seven months before he was redeployed in July 2018 to his present position as chief of training and operations.

As chief of operations at Army headquarters, Mr Adeosun heads the Department of Army Training and Operations (DATOPS), which is responsible for the training, planning and directing of military operations by continuous assessment and evaluation of possible threat areas in the overall national defence.

Mr Adeosun was promoted major general on July 4, 2014. Having been enrolled into the Army on July 4, 1983, the officer is due to retire in July this year.

Major General Adeosun was born in Ola-Oluwa Local Government of Osun State on August 22, 1963.

2) Brigadier General Hamisu Hassan

Brigadier General Hamisu Hassan was chief of staff at the 7 Division of the Army in Maiduguri during the 2015 general elections.

As chief of staff, he was his GOC’s anchorman, and was therefore responsible for liaison between him and the two younger officers recruited to execute the undemocratic election assignment.

He is a member of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) 37 Regular Combatant Course and was commissioned in September 1991. He was born on December 12, 1967 at Chanchanga Local Government of Niger State.

Mr Hassan was promoted brigadier general on September 21, 2014.

On appointment of Tukur Buratai as Chief of Army Staff, Mr Hassan was deployed in Kano as 3 Brigade Commander.

He was later posted to 2 Brigade in Port Harcourt as commander, before his posting as Chief of Staff at the Army’s 81 Division in Lagos.

3) Colonel Danladi Hassan

Colonel Hassan is a member of NDA 41 Regular Combatant Course and was commissioned in September1994. He was born in Danko Wasagu Local Government of Kebbi State on November 26, 1969.

He was promoted Colonel on August 15, 2013 and won the Chief of Army Staff Commendation Award in 2015, for his gallantry.

As a young officer, Mr Hassan took part in ECOMOG operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and later in the United Nations Mission in Sudan. He was appointed Chief Security Officer to the Sierra Leonean chief of defence staff for his exceptional performance.

In 2003, Mr Hassan was posted as Instructor at the NDA, and had another teaching post in 2009 at the Armed Forces Command & Staff College, Jaji.

In 2012 he was sent for counterinsurgency operation in Borno State where he commanded 212 Battalion in Maiduguri and doubled as commander for Sector 4, a special unit of the Army.

Mr Hassan was famous for starting a rhetoric countering project by going around mosques in Maiduguri to preach against the Boko Haram ideology.

On Mr Buratai’s ascension as Chief of Army Staff, he picked Mr Hassan as his military assistant. Mr Buratai later redeployed Mr Hassan from that position barely three months after. He appointed him Deputy Director, Procurement.

On June 10, 2016, Mr Hassan was called on the phone for a bad news. He was suddenly retired from the Army. He recently won his case at the National Industrial Court, which ordered him to reinstate him and pay him all his entitlements.

4) Colonel Mohammed Suleiman

Call him the father of the popular Civilian JTF in Borno State, and you are right.

Colonel Suleiman it was who midwifed the idea of using local vigilantes and hunters in tackling the ravaging Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.

He was a resourceful intelligence officer who led many subterfuge operations against Boko Haram elements, including the arrest of the notorious Umar Sanda Konduga and Adam Kambar, a Boko Haram member declared wanted by the United States.

He participated in peacekeeping operations around the world, and spent six years working against Boko Haram in the North-east.

Mr Suleiman headed joint intelligence task force comprising other security agencies tasked with nationwide counter-insurgency operations, leading to the uncovering of secret cells of the insurgents.

He was promoted Colonel on August 17, 2013.

His career record was crowned with an award of Chief of Army Staff Commendation as well as the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR).

Colonel Suleiman belongs to NDA 42 Regular Combatant course. He enrolled on August 17, 1990 and was commissioned in September 1995.

Mr Suleiman hailed from Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, where he was born on June 1, 1971.

Like his long-term colleague, Mr Hassan, Mr Suleiman’s career was also suddenly terminated in June 2016. He has instituted a case against the Army at the National Industrial Court after appeals to the authorities to be reinstated failed.