Nigerian Army yet to identify soldiers who allegedly battered journalist to stupor
The Nigerian Army is yet to identify soldiers believed to be within it ranks who recently beat a journalist to stupor in Abia State.
Ijendu Iheaka who reports for the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba said he was brutalised over the soldiers’ claim right of way.
The ordeal left the reporter badly injured. He said he had swollen knees. He said they tore his shirt. He said it took pleas from passersby for the soldiers to let go.
Iheaka said he was on his way to an assignment at Umuode area of the state capital when he encountered a group of soldiers in a patrol van marked “Army 014.”
He said the spot is not far away from Winners Church, along the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway.
Iheaka recounted his ordeal to Vanguard:
I got to a muddy portion of the road and even waited for the coming vehicle to pass before stepping in to wade through the spot. The soldiers van came into the same portion when I had already gone half way.
There was no safe place to make way for them to pass in the mud. Before I know what was happening, the driver started shouting, ‘waka, waka’ (meaning ‘walk’ or get out of the way’), pointing his fingers at me while others came out and started beating me.
They used the nozzle of their guns to hit my knees and tore my shirt. After they left, I couldn’t even walk, a good Samaritan assisted me to a tricycle which took me home. I have contacted the military authorities in Aba, they promised to investigate; yet nothing has come out of it.
Iheaka has been unable to return to work since the soldiers went all crazy on him.
Amnesty International say Nigerian soldiers have a penchant for violating human rights.
AI has several accused the Nigerian military of violating such rights in its war Boko Haram terrorists in the country’s northeast.
The American government said its laws would not allow it sell its weapons to military units with history of human right abuse.
