Who Will Stop Nigerian Army Brutality?

The recent dehumanisation of the about-to-wed couple in Abuja by a major general of the Nigerian Army and his men shows that a few bad eggs in the organisation have become unrepentant threats to the lives and human rights of Nigerians despite the end of military rule 25 years ago, Ejiofor Alike writes

Since the end of military rule in 1999, a few rogue military officers and men whose acts of gallantry only manifest in the dehumanisation and killing of policemen and innocent civilians in unprovoked attacks have continued to pose threats to the lives of innocent Nigerians with no deliberate measures taken to stop these acts of criminality and brutality by successive civilian administrations. 

The latest victims of these lawless officers are Vershima Mker, and his partner, Lami Jennifer Iorvihi, who are about-to-wed partners.

Mker, an Abuja resident, and Iorvihi were recently brutalised and injured by Major General G.S. Muhammed and Corporal A. Abubakar of the Nigerian Army on Gwarinpa Road in Abuja.

In the video clip posted on X last Tuesday by Rufai Oseni of the ARISE NEWS Channel, Mker, who was seated in his car, repeatedly asked helplessly, “How did I pass your car?” while he was being beaten by Muhammed and his men.

Many who watched the video had feared for Mker’s life when the soldiers hit him with a strong object and he shouted “Oh God” in pain, while Iorvihi, who was sitting beside him in the car, screamed “Jesus!”

Despite the cries of their victims, the senior officer and his men continued hitting Mker in his belly and other parts of his body, raising concerns over his life.

Mker eventually removed his seat belt and followed his attackers to their black jeep parked where one of the soldiers landed a slap on his face.

The video ended when one of the soldiers discovered that Iorvihi was recording the incident, and ran towards her, shouting, “Bring the phone! Bring the phone!”

However, in a petition addressed to the acting Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Olufemi Oluyede, the victims’ lawyer, Tom Uja, narrated how the soldiers further bundled the duo in a car boot and drove them to a police station in Gwarinpa where they spent eight hours in detention.

Uja demanded the dismissal of the officers and a N150 million compensation on behalf of Mker and Iorvihi

“Our clients are university graduates who are intending to get married soon and as part of their preparations, were in Gwarinpa, visiting relations and intending guests. While driving on 3 Avenue, Gwarinpa, the said Major General G.S. Mohammed driving with his convoy also joined the road with sirens blaring from behind.

“Despite the crowded sideways, our clients made haste and parked for the Major General. Yet the Major General G.S. Muhammed and his convoy blocked our clients and started beating and insulting them in a way that even prisoners of war are never treated. The video coverage and pictures released to us by our clients show Gen. G.S. Muhammed personally beat up our clients alongside Corporal A. Abubakar.”

“The brutal army general and his details handcuffed our clients, pushed them into the boot of one of their vehicles and took them to the Gwarinpa Police Station where the Army General ordered our clients to be detained until he would give word for their release.”

 The statement added that the duo was detained for eight hours until Muhammed personally went to the Police Station and forced his victims to write an apology to him under duress before they were released.

But in the military authorities’ characteristic style of shielding their officers and men involved in similar incidents in the past, the Nigerian Army said in a statement on Wednesday, that the COAS, Lt. General Oluyede had ordered a probe of the incident.

The description of the criminal assault and dehumanistion of the helpless and unarmed about-to-wed couple as an “altercation” by the statement has raised strong suspicion of possible cover-up.

The statement claimed that the circumstances leading to this incident were not clear at the moment.

No circumstances could have justified such an act of lawlessness by a senior army officer. 

A few rogue officers and men of the Nigerian Army have been behaving as if the institution operates outside the Nigerian Constitution.

 Even if a policeman or a civilian commits an offence against military personnel, soldiers are not the law courts that should pass death sentences on law breakers.

The human rights community should put pressure on President Bola Tinubu to end this practice of the military sitting over its cases.

Before the Nigerian Army hides under another investigation to shield their officers, the military should reveal the identities of the rogue soldiers who murdered an Inspector serving with the Lagos State Police Command, Monday Orukpe at the Trade Fair area of the state on August 3, 2022.

The then General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Umar Musa, had apparently justified the action of the soldiers when he claimed that they beat Orukpe to death because he shot at one of them. 

No law allows soldiers to pass a death sentence on a policeman who attempted the life of a soldier. A responsible military should have allowed the law to take its course.

The Lagos State Police Command had challenged the GOC to show Nigerians the soldier allegedly shot by the slain policeman.

The military’s practice of assuming the role of a judge in its own case is a ploy used to shield their officers.

In November 2023, soldiers of the 23 Armoured Brigade in Adamawa State mobilised armoured trucks and invaded the police headquarters in Jimeta-Yola and killed a police officer.

The military should reveal the identity of the senior officer who ordered the invasion of a sister security agency.

Some personnel of the Nigerian Army tortured to death the Manager of Hotel Royal Damgrete, Umuahia, Abia State, Mr. Achimugu Etubi, on April 13, 2024.

What was the outcome of the investigation ordered by late Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja?

In June, an assistant director at the Ministry of Defence, was beaten by a group of private soldiers in Command Secondary School, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, sparking protests at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Abuja.

Another civilian staff of the ministry, Mr Ifeanyi Onuamegbu, who was attached to the Laboratory Department of the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital (NNRH) in Ojo, Lagos, died on March 31, 2024 in his office after being tortured by some personnel of the Nigerian Navy whose services were procured by a civilian lady with whom he had an altercation.  

The Nigerian Army and the military authorities should produce their personnel involved in these acts of lawlessness before hiding under another investigation to shield the attackers of the about-to-wed couple.

This is why the probe ordered by the acting Chief of Army Staff is unacceptable as the outcomes of previous probes by the military authorities into similar atrocities against policemen and civilians by soldiers never saw the light of the day.