Soldiers of the 32 Artilery Brigade, Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday killed a robbery suspect at Igbara Oke in Ifedore Local Government.
The suspect, who was said to be a member of a six-man gang, was killed while robbing motorists on the Ilesa-Akure Expressway.
Other members of the gang escaped with injuries.
It was learnt that the soldiers, who were at the military checking point came to the rescue of the victims.
Assistant Director of Public Relations of the Artillery Brigade Capt Ojo Adelegan said: “The public is hereby enjoined to please give useful information on suspected criminals and their hideouts.”
Tag: soldiers
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Soldiers kill robbery suspect
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Soldiers recover body
Soldiers from Ngwa Road Forward Operation Base (FOB), under 144 Battalion, Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State have recovered the body of an Aba resident, identified as Kalu Prince.
He was reportedly killed by four gunmen.
The body was said to have been recovered on the popular Orji Kalu Bridge, off Ngwa Road, less than 12hrs after Prince was allegedly kidnapped at Ogbor Hill.
A military source said the body was found in a black Honda CRV registered as Lagos APP 193 CW after a tip-off.
Residents of Aba have called on heads of security agencies to curb the surging robbery and kidnapping.
The government has announced a 7pm to 6am ban on the operational time of commercial tricycles and motorcycles as part of efforts to curb kidnapping and robbery.
A statement directed all heads of security agencies to ensure they carry out the orders.
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Still on soldiers’ ill-treatment of civilians
SIR: Few days ago in Onitsha, two Nigerian soldiers chanced upon a man in wheelchair… and crippled him the more. A video recording of the encounter is on Youtube: The soldiers driving by sighted Chijioke Uraku, a physically-challenged man wearing a pair of camouflage trousers, and pulled over. They rushed him, threw away his wheelchair, pushed him to the ground and whipped him mercilessly. The man screamed and wept and rolled in the dust. And bestiality rejoiced over humanity.
The assault of the soldiers on citizen Chijioke is a case of lynching. Yet, the brutalization of Chijioke was beyond lynching. It had the trappings of theatre. It was a gladiatorial mismatch in a public arena.
Chijioke’s offence? He wore a pair of camouflage trousers. The self-appointed fashion police judged him guilty of coveting an exclusive outfit of the Nigerian Army. The ‘bloody civilian’ engaged in identity theft of sorts.
Was the curious fashion sense of the man sufficient to incite the soldiers to instant madness? Was there anything outrageous about the camouflage that excited the animal in the soldiers to run wild? What was abominable about a civilian wearing a camouflage that drove the soldiers to shame their own uniform?
Chalk up the abuse to military ego.
The average Nigerian soldier considers himself a higher species higher. He believes the truth of his incomparability. He holds the civilian in contempt.
The duel between the willing soldier and the reluctant civilian is one which the soldier is certain to win. It’s pointless. But it feeds the arrogance of the soldier to orchestrate an easy, one-sided cockfight. For some reason, lording it over the civilian is one of the strong cravings of the Nigerian soldier.
Sometime last year, a video clip of part of the drill process of Nigerian Army recruits surfaced online. The treatment the kids were subjected to is impossible to conceive as professional tempering or soldierly hardening. Their sadist ‘trainers’ harassed, scourged and humiliated them like animals.
This kind of inhumane socialization predisposes the abused soldier to function like an abuser under the ‘right’ circumstances. It primes the Nigerian solider to avenge his ugly ‘training’ on the body of the civilian. It’s the soldier’s protest against the past, a horrible transfer of aggression.
Last year, a Nigerian soldier punctured the eye of a Nigerian civilian. The putative grievance of the soldier revolved around… camouflage! Someone wore a camo T-shirt. A soldier proceeded to ‘punish’ the civilian. A Good Samaritan intervened to plead for the brutalized citizen. The soldier turned on the peacemaker and gifted him artificial blindness!
The intimidation of the civilian by the Nigerian soldier is an everyday reality. The Nigerian Army must sincerely accept this fact and permit that to form the impetus to work to change the dynamics of military-civilian relations. About this time last year, a 25 year old Nigerian man complimented a female cadet and got brutalized by the lady and her male cadet colleagues… for his chivalry.
Denialism will only help perpetuate the problem. The path to progress is for the Nigerian Army to get Nigerian soldiers to unlearn their habit of hostility to Nigerian civilians. The Nigerian soldier resents the civilian. The soldier has little or no respect for the civilian whose tax pays the soldier’s salary and buys him combat kit.
Reorientation is a good way to begin to correct the situation. But the reorientation being proposed here does not mean talk shops structured to offer subliminal persuasion to the soldiers. It is something more drastic and organic. It is transitioning the institution of the Nigerian Army to the best traditions of soldiery. It is conforming the attitude of officers and men of the Nigerian Army to values of honour, valour and sacrifice. It is modelling an equable temperament as the hallmark of the Nigerian soldier.
- Emmanuel Ugwu,
immaugwu@gmail.com
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Ebonyi demands sack of soldiers who assaulted cripple
Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi has demanded the immediate sack and prosecution of the two soldiers who assaulted a physically challenged man, Chijioke Oratu.
The governor also gave N500,000 to the victim to aid his recovery and rehabilitation and promised to empower him by setting up a business for him.
Chijioke Oratu, crippled in both legs, was viciously beaten and kicked by two armed soldiers after being dragged off his wheel chair, as shocked onlookers stood by helplessly.
The video of the attack apparently captured by a bystander, went viral on social media, sparking outrage.
The Nigerian Army announced last week that the assailants had been identified and arrested.
Spokesperson Sani Usman, a Brigadier General, said in a statement the culprits, Bature Samuel and Abdulazeez Usman, who were both corporals, had been demoted to privates and imprisoned for 21 days with hard labour.
They are to also forfeit their pay for the 21 days.
But governor David Umahi while receiving the victim at the exco chambers of the government house Abakaliki on Tuesday said the punishment was not commiserate with the crime committed by the soldiers.
The governor said the state government will write a petition to the army authorities demanding the immediate sack and prosecution of the two soldiers for the attack on Mr Oratu
“Let me highly commend the Chief of Staff and the GOC of 82 Division for their quick and humanly intervention. In our society we have different sectors of our engagement, the judges or lawyers are not the most important, neither are the doctors, police, soldiers or politicians.
“The combination of all will make the society that is progressive. And I believe in a society where the right of one stops the right of the other begins. I commend the governor of Anambra state who reacted immediately and sort to rehabilitate this young man before we came in and took over.
“We commend the Chief of Army Staff on the disciplinary actions taken on those men but we believe that 21 days imprisonment is not enough, they didn’t behave like human beings and to be demoted is not enough.
“I suggest to them that those soldiers should be sacked and not demoted. We shall write a petition which I will personally submit to the Chief of Army staff demanding the sack and prosecution of the soldiers who attacked him”.
The governor also directed the release of N500,000 to enable the victim be treated for the trauma and injuries he sustained from the attack.
He also directed his Senior Special Adviser on Welfare and Religious matters to liase with the victim and his family on the best way to resettle him.
The governor also announced the release of relive funds and packages worth over N30m to the people of Azuoffia-Edda community who were allegedly attacked by neighbouring communities in Cross River State.
He also directed the provision of mosquito nets to the victims and digging of two boreholes at their refugee camp located at Azuoffia-Edda primary school.
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Maltreatment of cripple: Army demotes soldiers
The Nigerian Army has demoted two soldiers, Cpl. Bature Samuel and Cpl. Abdulazeez Usman of 82 Provost Company in Onitsha, Anambra, to Private for human rights abuse
The Nigerian Army spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Friday.
Usman said the demoted soldiers on Feb. 7, maltreated a physically challenged person, Mr Chijioke Uraku, on the street of Onitsha, Anambra, for allegedly wearing Army camouflage uniform,
Usman said they were arrested, summarily tried on two-count charge and found guilty.
“Consequently, both have been sentenced to reduction in rank from Corporal to Private Soldiers and 21 days imprisonment with Hard Labour, respectively.
“It includes forfeiture of 21 days pay to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Army has also reached out to the victim of their unjustifiable assault, Mr Chijoke Uraku (alias CJ), as widely reported by the media.
“We wish to reiterate our avowed determination to ensure that troops conduct themselves in the most orderly and professional manner at all times.
“Any act of indiscipline would not be tolerated,” he said. (NAN)
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Soldiers nab two robbery suspects in Aba
Soldiers of the 14 Brigade, Ohafia, Abia State, have arrested two suspected robbers accused of terrorising motorists on the Opobo-Azumini highway.
It was gathered that the robbery suspects named Victor John and Nsikak Johnson were nabbed by soldiers at a checkpoint along Azumini Road and handed them over to the Abia State Police command.
Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Leye Oyebade confirmed the handover of the suspects to the police.
Oyebade, said, “The robust synergy of the Abia State Police Command with other sister agencies paid off when officers of the Nigerian Army, 14 Brigade, Ohafia, on checkpoint at Azumini Road in Ukwa East, arrested the suspects and handed over to the operatives of the anti-kidnapping section of the State Criminal and Intelligence Department. They confessed to the crime and effort is being intensified to arrest other members of their gang.”
The CP added that the suspects are among notorious criminals who have been robbing motorists along Azumini highway and listed items recovered from them to include a locally made single-barrel pistol, two live cartridges and a small bag.
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Okorocha splashes N9m on soldiers’ widows, legionnaires
•Governor seeks support for Armed Forces
Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday donated N9 million to wives of deceased soldiers and members of the Nigeria Legion in the state.
The governor made the donation during this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration at the Hero’s Square in Owerri, the state capital.
He said the fallen heroes had made Nigerians proud as a people and as a nation.
Okorocha noted that words alone could not explain their patriotism and sacrifice.
He said: “The nation knows what the widows of dead soldiers have been going through and would never forget them. Their husbands died so that the rest of Nigerians might have a peaceful nation. The development calls for love towards them, and we will continue to demonstrate this love.”
The governor noted that “the nation has done well for celebrating its fallen heroes who died that the nation may stand”.
He described the action of the dead soldiers as a “show of patriotism at the highest level”.
Okorocha said: “Not far from now, Nigeria will be counted among the great nations of the world. We are going through a process or through a journey which most great nations had passed through to reach their Promised Land and Nigeria will not be an exception. I appeal to all leaders to learn to sacrifice in comfort of their lives and otherwise, that the nation can move forward.
“It is appointed to all living creatures to die someday. So, what matters most is the legacy left behind and not death itself. our soldiers died as heroes and they have been celebrated as people who gave their lives for the unity of the nation.
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Buhari’s wife prays for families of fallen soldiers
The wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, on Sunday prayed for families of Nigeria’s soldiers who died in line of duty, as the country marked the Armed Forces Remembrance Day.
She also prayed that the labours, love and sacrifices of the fallen heroes would never be forgotten.
Mrs Buhari, who sent a congratulatory message through her face book page in Abuja on Sunday, expressed optimism that the time had come when Nigeria would be free from terrorism.
‘’As we remember our fallen heroes today, I pray for those they left behind; our heroes will never be forgotten.
‘’Their labours and sacrifices will not be in vain.
‘’I pray that the time has come when there will be zero terrorism and insurgency in our land.
‘’To our gallant troops who had fought and still fighting to restore peace, I say thank you,’’ she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalled that the Federal Governmen fixed Jan. 15 of every year to remember the soldiers who lost their lives to keep the country (NAN)
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Boko Haram: Three soldiers killed, 27 injured, 10 terrorists killed in attack
The Military says it has successfully repelled attack by the Boko Haram terrorists at Kangarwa in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno.
Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the Director of Army Public Relations, said in a statement in Maiduguri that the operation was carried out on Friday.
According to him, the operation was carried out with the assistance of the Nigerian Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance planes.
He said “the futile attack, launched by the terrorists group from the shores of the Lake Chad in the evening, lasted till midnight.
““The resilient troops repelled the incursion and in the process killed 10 insurgents and wounded several others.”
Usman said the troops recovered one Pulemyot Kalashnkova Machine (PKM) gun with 67 rounds of ammunition, one AK-47 Riffle with 18 rounds of ammunition, two AK-Rifle top covers and three Dane guns with one cartridge.
“Others include, one rocket propelled grenade tube with three bombs, one rocket propelled grenade charger and smoke grenade, one hand held (HH) Motorola radio and antenna, one copy of Holy Qur’an and Boko Haram terrorists’ flag.
“”Unfortunately, three soldiers died in the course of the encounter, while 27 others sustained injuries.
“”The bodies of the gallant soldiers and those injured have since been evacuated,” he said.
“He said the troops have continued to trail those terrorists that escaped with gundhot wounds and intensified vigilance and high level of alertness in the area. (NAN)
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Buhari hails troops for capturing Sambisa forest
President Mohammadu Buhari on Saturday commended the Nigerian troops for capturing Sambisa forest from the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
The commendation was contained in a goodwill message to the troops, which he personally signed.
He said he was delighted that the terrorists are on the run and no longer have any place to hide in the forest.
” I am delighted at, and most proud of the gallant troops of the Nigerian Army, on receipt of the long-awaited and most gratifying news of the final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest.
“I want to use this opportunity to commend the determination, courage and resilience of troops of Operation Lafiya Dole at finally entering and crushing the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents at “Camp Zero”, which is located deep within the heart of Sambisa Forest.
“I was told by the Chief of Army Staff that the Camp fell at about 1:35pm on Friday, December 23, and that the terrorists are on the run, and no longer have a place to hide. ”
Buhari urged the troops to maintain the tempo by pursuing the terrorists in order to bring them to justice.
The President also called on all Nigerians to cooperate and support the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies by providing useful information that will expose all the terrorists hiding among the populace.
He said that further efforts should be intensified to locate and free the remaining Chibok girls still in captivity.
“I also want to congratulate and commend the able leadership of the Nigerian Army in particular and indeed, that of the Armed Forces in general, for making this possible.
“This, no doubt, will go a long way in improving the security situation not only in the North East, but the country in general. But we must not let our guards down.
“Once more, congratulations to our troops and all who, in one way or the other, contributed to this most commendable and momentous effort. May the Almighty continue to be with you.
“I wish you a Merry Christmas and a most rewarding and peaceful Year 2017,” the President said.