Efforts were made to get the response of Captain Jemila Jimoh, a spokesperson of the 13th Brigade of the Nigerian Army on the incident.
By Ebube Bruno
In Calabar, the Cross River State capital, soldiers of the Nigerian Army, on the night of Wednesday, 27TH of November 2024, assaulted a 19-year-old botany student of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and her mother, residents of Jonathan Bye-Pass roundabout, Akai-Effa town.
Narrating the incident to our correspondent on Saturday, the student Everister Paul said a female soldier identified as Sargent Maria Okoi gathered her colleagues to join her in beating her for wearing tinted hair and for responding to her questions in good English.
Sargent Maria Okoi.
She said she obtained severe injuries on her head when Maria Okoi hit her head with the butt of her gun, and that the soldiers numbering 7 slapped, kicked and dragged her, tearing her clothes to shreds.
They did not end there; it was alleged that the soldiers equally beat up her mother after her younger sister, who was with her all these while,e, ran home and raised the alarm to their parents. When the father, Paul Agbahime, a police inspector tried to intervene, a soldier cocked her gun and thundered that she had been ordered to shoot, dispersing the crowd who had gathered.
Amaka.
This reporter, who went to the scene at the weekend with human rights lawyer James Ibor, confirmed from three different sources that the incident indeed took place with witnesses identifying Sergeant Maria Okoi and the leader of the soldiers who abetted the crime while it lasted.
Efforts were made to get the response of Captain Jemila Jimoh, a spokesperson of the 13th Brigade of the Nigerian Army on the incident.
She said the military police are investigating the incident and promised to keep the public updated. Military brutality is common in Nigeria which has impacted negatively the integrity of the Military and the capacity to protect lives and property
James Ibor, the Principal Counsel of Basic Rights Counsel Initiative, expressed concern over the growing criminality among military personnel carrying out Police duties.
According to Ibor, the Nigerian Military is inept and actively enabling criminality. He called on the Attorney General to rise to the occasion and ensure justice prevailed.
