Stanley Azuakola: The Nigerian Army I saw today
I have tried to give the Nigerian Army the benefit of the doubt.
When
satellite images released by Human Rights Watch showed the destruction
in Bama last year after soldiers razed over 2000 homes, I still gave the
benefit of the doubt. “What if we are wrong? Let’s support our
military!” I told people.
I was touched but did not care much
about the 32-year old fisherman interviewed by Human Rights Watch who
said, “We had heard the soldiers say before the attack that since you
people are not cooperating with us and are hiding your brothers, we will
treat you as one of them. Everyone heard them say this. They were
saying it in the open.”
That man lost his uncle who had a bad leg
and could not escape when soldiers attacked and burnt the houses after a
Boko Haram attack. But I still tried to make excuses.
Even when
my Twitter friend, Salihu TankoYakasai (@dawisu) shared stories in April
last year, claiming that soldiers in Kano have turned into “an even
deadlier enemy than Boko Haram… and had become human exterminators,” I
silently accused him of exaggerating. Somewhere in my mind, Bama and
Maiduguri and Kano… were all too far for me.
In the last few
months, I have become more critical of the army. After their ridiculous
lie that they had released the abducted Chibok girls, and the back story
which led to the mutiny at the Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, I knew
my support could no longer be unconditional. I began to take anything
the army said with a pinch of salt.
Today, I saw firsthand the Nigerian Army in action in Lagos… I have never seen anything like it in my life.
A
soldier was knocked down and killed by a BRT bus in Lagos. Soldiers in
army green stormed Ikorodu road where the buses ply and first thing they
did was to close the road from Palmgrove where the accident reportedly
happened. The closure immediately caused a massive traffic gridlock. But
that was just the beginning.
The soldiers began attacking BRT
buses on the road. They vandalised the buses, broke the glasses and
windscreens, and deflated the tyres. I got a call about the incident and
immediately went to see for myself.
The first scene that greeted
me at Palmgrove was a journalist being viciously beaten by the
soldiers. “Please I’m a journalist,” he kept saying, pleading with them.
They did not care – a female soldier led that attack. The offence of
that journalist was that he was bold enough to take photos of the
vandalised buses. His ipad was seized and he was so badly brutalised
that he had to be rushed to the hospital.
Soldiers demanded that
Nigerian civilians passing along Palmgrove raise their two hands in the
air, as though we are in a war situation. No one was permitted to hold
his phone in his hand or receive a call. Not even those driving-by in
their cars were spared. A young soldier slapped a man making a call
inside a bus because he disobeyed an order he was not even aware of.
Things
got even worse. Some of the onlookers told me that a senior officer
came by and directed the soldiers on ground to burn the parked buses. I
did not see that officer but I saw soldiers as they went into two nearby
petrol filling stations, ordered the attendant to fill some kegs with
petrol and carry it to a spot where one of the buses was parked. I
watched as soldiers got into the bus and emptied the keg of fuel inside
it right there by the side. Then they struck a match and it was in
flames.
On either side of that burning bus, there was massive
traffic and cars (including fuel tankers) were moving slowly. The
soldiers did not care and commuters prayed as they moved past. They did
not even have the luxury of turning back as the road was blocked.
I was there when a Peugeot car with a tinted glass and plate number
NA-911934 arrived the scene and two young-looking officers stepped out. I
do not know much about army ranks but a friend by my side saw their
stars and cap and told me that one was a captain and the other a
Lt-Colonel. I went close to see if I could get their names but they had
removed their name tags of course. The other officers recognised the
presence of their bosses with the usual greeting as the two men strutted
calmly away from my spot.
I am sharing the entry of those
officers because some people are currently trying to frame this story on
social media as though it was something that was done by a few
“disgruntled” soldiers in the rank and file. That is not and cannot be
true. Those soldiers could not have been so bold to stay there for over 5
hours and all that time, there was not a call from their superiors
asking them to desist. All of Lagos had heard the news, yet people who
push this theory of a “few disgruntled soldiers” want us to believe that
the bosses had not heard and could do nothing. That’s illogical!
At
the Palmgrove bus stop, four BRT buses were parked, just in front of
the MRS filling station. I saw a female soldier shout, “We suppose start
one smoke from there.” I reached her and said, “Aunty please I beg,
this is so close to the filling station, it might cause an explosion.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing from this small, uniformless
person: “If I send you slap ehn. Gerraway from here,” she told me, and I
‘gorrawayed.’
The soldiers got petrol, emptied it inside the middle bus and set it on fire. Before long, the four buses were on fire.
I
and a few friends wanting to know the exact spot the incident happened,
went to speak with security men guarding the entrance into the
Palmgrove estate. They told us that they did not know what happened but
that all of a sudden they saw a crowd rushing into their estate (the
crowd was being chased by soldiers.) The guards quickly rushed to close
the gates against the onrushing crowd. Apparently the soldiers believed
that the BRT drivers had run into the estate and the guards were
attempting to close the gates to shield them. They beat up the three
elderly guards. One of them told us he had pains on his arms and legs,
the other was still in shock, the last one was in the hospital.
We
immediately left for the Ultima Medicare Clinic at 2A Cappa Avenue,
Palmgrove where the third guard was admitted but we were denied
entrance. According to them, “Chairman says it is an internal matter.”
By
1pm, when I left the scene, the soldiers were still there, most of them
now seated in their Hilux vans with “OP MESA” written on them, others
controlling the traffic, others seizing cameras, and others pushing back
onlookers. Their colleague had died (some people I spoke to said the
dead soldier was supposed to get married tomorrow and some said he was a
colonel; I don’t believe either). Either way, he was gone. His
colleagues will never see him again, but as I left, I noticed a group of
soldiers, huddled together, laughing – it’s been a good day’s job. They
had put the ‘fear of god in hapless civilians.’
On a final note,
as I was writing this, I saw an update from Musiliu Obanikoro, the
minister of state for defence (who was not at the scene), saying he has
been briefed by the chief of army staff (who was not on the scene) that
“some thugs in the area took advantage of the incident to wreak havoc
and the military has taken necessary steps to restore peace and
forestall further breakdown of law and order.” Obanikoro knows that he
is lying, but he won’t stop – it’s just how they roll. Before there is
even an investigation, there is already a cover-up.
I know that
there are a few good men in our military and I thank them for all the
times they have discharged their duties with uprightness and
professionalism. But all over the country, it is now clear that there
are certainly more lawless men in our army than responsible individuals.
An army that believes in jungle justice is a perversion. The Army I saw
today was not that glorious army which we used to rave about when they
go on foreign missions and who people say are the most professional on
the continent. The army I saw was a gang of buccaneers, a vicious
rampaging locust-like evil on green that should be utterly ashamed of
itself and that is in much need of a reform. But I am not hopeful.
- Follow this writer on Twitter: @stanleyazuakola
http://www.thescoopng.com/stanley-azuakola-nigerian-army-saw-today/
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