How military’s enforcement of stay at home order claimed first victim in Warri
The enforcement of the stay-at-home order imposed by Delta State government to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19 in the state claimed the life of a resident on Thursday.
The victim, one Joseph Pessu, was shot dead in Warri, Delta State by a soldier for allegedly flouting the order restricting movements in the state.
Delta State was not included among the states where President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a 14-day lockdown during his statewide broadcast last Sunday, but the state government gave the order as part of measures to prevent the spread of the virus into the State.
The Punch reports that trouble started for late Pessu who was driving a black Toyota Camry car without number plate, when he defied the orders of the soldiers when they asked him to stop at their checkpoint. This prompted the soldiers to give him a hot chase. The bullet from the gun of one of the soldiers chasing Pessu hit him when he abandoned the car in the middle of the road and attempted to flee to a nearby bush.
His death irked youths in the community who went on a rampage and made bonfires on the road. Two naval personnel, who were riding on a motorcycle in the area and were not aware of the unrest, ran into the rampaging youths. They were attacked by the angry mob. A video of the attack on the naval personnel went viral on social media and many assumed they were the military personnel who shot dead Pessu.
Aside Warri, there has been a series of complaints from social media users over the use of brutal force on residents by military and police personnel enforcing the sit at home order. Several videos showing the brutalisation of residents are also circulating on social media.
A group of policemen enforcing the stay at home order in Lagos was seen in a similar viral video brutalising some traders in the state after forcibly shutting down shops that defied the state government’s directive. After destroying goods at a bar and a phone accessory store at an unspecified location in the state, the policemen also ordered some men believed to have visited the bar to lie on the floor.
Also in Osun state, police officers trying to enforce the closure of markets as ordered by Governor Gboyega Oyetola brutalised and fired teargas canisters at traders and buyers at Ifon Market on Wednesday March 25, 2020.
The Military has, however, described the videos circulating on social media as fake and also debunked claims that its personnel were brutalising citizens who defied the COVID-19 orders.
The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, noted that the viral videos trending online showing men in uniform brutalising civilians were fake.
Meanwhile, a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop soldiers from enforcing the COVID-19 order.
