Soldiers order young travellers to shave each other’s hair with blunt razor
Some soldiers at a checkpoint along Eke-Affa road, Udi LGA, Enugu, on Monday morning allegedly ordered some young travellers off the bus and forced them to cut each other’s hair with blunt razor.
The young men, according to an eyewitness, became victims of human rights abuse after the unidentified soldiers stopped the bus and questioned the driver for playing music.
One of the soldiers, Ify Nnamani narrates, claimed the driver was playing “music that reminds him of his days in the ‘depot.’”
Not satisfied with the reactions they got from the passengers, the soldiers then ordered three young men to alight, for “carrying full hair”.
They allegedly handed them a razor which they forced the driver to provide to shave the hair off.
“I don’t know when carrying full hair or playing music in the bus became illegal that these soldiers had to detain us for over 30 minutes,” Ify wrote.
“I was so angry on behalf of those guys, especially as some of the older folks in our bus kept saying they deserved to have their hairs cut that way. What is a guy doing with full hair?
“The blatant abuse of power and bullying of innocent civilians by the military can’t be allowed to continue unchecked.”
One of the major criticisms that trail operatives of the Nigerian Army is the blatant abuse of the human rights of citizens who have long been classified as “bloody civilians”.
