It was on September 23, 2021 that I logged in to my Facebook account only to be welcomed by news headlines and video clips of a female military officer assaulting a corps member publicly in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
In the viral video, the soldier was seen pouring muddy water and smashing the kneeling, fully kitted, corps member repeatedly with a bowl.
The sleeping dog was let to lie until a video clip of yet another harassment by the military hit the social media on October 7, 2021.
This time around, it was the Nollywood actor, Chinwetalu Agụ that was the victim. In the viral video, the veteran Nollywood actor was seen been harassed by Nigerian soldiers in Onitsha, Anambra State, for wearing clothes adorned with Biafra insignia.
The aforementioned incidence of assaults by military personnel against civilians is one out of many. From Lagos to Abuja, the federal capital, to the East and North, (unreported) reports are frequent of military personnel brutalising the citizens they were recruited, trained, equipped and paid to protect; leaving a stain on Nigeria’s match to a truly free society.
Last year, Nigerians witnessed the height of military brutality when, on October 20, 2020, innocent, young protesters and unarmed young Nigerians were shot dead by the Nigerian Army. We are yet to recover from the shock.
Ending police brutality was the cardinal objective of the #EndSARS protesters. However, the extrajudicial killings of the #EndSARS protesters by the military, from all indications, reveal that the quest to end police brutality was replaced with military brutality.
Military brutality is the common tool used to maintain a variety of systems of inequality and oppression in different societies. And it is a tool that gets turned systematically on the most vulnerable members of society.
The government needs to develop a human rights policy approach to addressing this issue. There is the need to address the systemic abuse of civil and political rights by the Nigerian Army and other government agencies.
The government needs to commence intensive human rights training for all law enforcement officers. Officers should also be regularly appraised on their human rights compliance and erring officers prosecuted.
In order to effectively protect the rights to life and freedom from torture of citizens, the government must ensure that it treats reports of violence, torture, and extrajudicial killings with the gravity they deserve. Such reports must be duly investigated through transparent means such as public inquiries and inquests, and victims should be adequately compensated
The lawlessness of some officers and soldiers is so pathetic. The military authorities should begin a long-term process of ending impunity by their men against civilians.
Discipline and decorum in public should start from officers. A democratic society requires a citizen army and the deviants, sadists and thugs within the armed forces should be identified, penalised and flushed out.
Ezinwanne Onwuka writes from Cross River State and may be reached at ezinwanne.dominion@gmail.com.
