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The reason why some Soldiers of the Nigerian army take laws in to their hands, in a democratic regime is still beyond my understanding. In recent years I have heard of cases similar to that of the man in the picture above, where innocent citizens are beaten, at times to death for flimsy excuses. Why do things like this keep repeating itself in our society, yet nothing is being done to curb such excesses? At the moment, I am heartbroken and clueless as to why incidents like this should occur in a free and “supposed-to-be-civilized” country. Read below:
Soldiers attached to the Flag House, Force Road, Lagos, have been accused of killing a 61-year-old man, Adewale Olupitan-Hazzan.
It was learnt that the soldiers who were driving in a military convoy on Ikorodu Road on July 15 went on the rampage and brutalised Adewale, a road user, for allegedly breaking the side mirror of one of the vehicles in their convoy.
It was gathered that Adewale was bundled out of his Toyota Camry and thoroughly beaten by the soldiers at the Obanikoro end of Ikorodu Road.
Adewale’s younger brother, Adedotun, said his brother even up till the time of his death, insisted that he did not do anything wrong to warrant such brutality.
He said, “He said when he heard the sound of the siren, he slowed down and adjusted to pave the way for them but was taken aback when the last car in the convoy, a Peugeot 407, marked NA 01AO, parked beside him.
“He said before he knew it, the soldiers bundled him out of his car beat him up and hit him repeatedly with the butts of their guns.”
Adedotun said a military officer identified simply as Capt. Peter, who was just passing by was moved by his predicament and urged the rampaging soldiers to release him.
The Soildiers refused until Adewale agreed to replace the mirror which until the time of his death he insisted he didn’t break.
Adetoun relates that when his brother got home after the ordeal, he started complaining about a nagging headache and later had a swollen head.
A brain surgery was carried out on him on July 29 after X-ray examinations revealed that he had a head trauma. He died some few hours after the operation.
Sadly, Adewale son’s wedding which was set for october 20 and has now been cancelled for obvious reasons.
A petition dated 2nd of August has been written on behalf of the family by Adedotun, and addressed to the Special Investigation Bureau of the Nigerian Army, Arakan Barracks, Apapa, Lagos, the family demanded that the army authorities should investigate the incident.
We do hope the appropriate authorities take the right measures. This act of sheer wickedness must not go unpunished.
