- Army officer’s dehumanisation of corps member is an example of woman’s inhumanity to a fellow woman
It was a woman’s inhumanity to a woman. Lt. Chika Viola Anele, a female Nigerian Army officer of 13th Brigade Command, Calabar, Cross River State, descended into bestiality in her maltreatment of Ezeiruaku Ifeyinwa Fidelis, a female member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who was doing the NYSC programme under the army in Calabar.
A viral video exposed the soldier’s shocking brutality and the alarming brutalisation of the corps member. The recording showed Ezeiruaku in uniform kneeling in front of Anele who was also in uniform. Incredibly, the soldier scooped dirty water from a container several times and poured it all over the corps member. The video ended with the soldier hitting her.
It is unclear what actually triggered Anele’s bestial behaviour, but it was inexcusable. Ezeiruaku, in an interview, said they had an argument over small chops. “The issue started when the commander of the brigade at army barracks hosted a competition so I was selected as an usher for guests,” she narrated. “When I got there, I saw one of my friends, an officer that I played Ayo with. As I was greeting him, Lt. Chika Anele came and shouted at me that I could not touch an officer who was in army uniform. As she said that to me, I drew back and returned to my duty post.”
She continued: “On July 28, a message was sent via WhatsApp that Lt. Chika invited corps members to a meeting… When I got there, she brought me out and said it was because of me that she called the meeting and asked me to go and wear my NYSC uniform.”
What happened when she returned to the gathering was horrific. Anele, she said, “called all the corps members and asked some to fetch water in a bucket and she took me to the backyard of the corps members’ lodge. She said I should do “press up, frog jump and all.”
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“As I was doing the frog jump, she asked me to kneel, then asked some corps members to bring stones and asked me to carry them on my head. She said it was when she saw tears dropping from my eyes that she would release me. When I got tired, I dropped the stones.”
Her ordeal did not end at that point. According to her, Anele continued with the torture. “She asked them to bring sand. She started pouring it on my body and started cursing me. She said if I didn’t cry, she would not leave me. As she was pouring that on me, my body was already itching because it was dirty water.” Ezeiruaku said she had to remove her jacket, leaving the shirt she wore under it. “My body itched more and I decided to pull off my brassiere. She rained more insults on me.”
This incident raises important questions: Why was Anele so enraged and failed to control her anger? Who were the onlookers? Why was it that no one tried to stop the soldier, or plead with her to stop the torture? Why did the corps members she ordered to bring stones and sand that enabled her to carry out the torture cooperate with her? Why did the corps members who witnessed her dehumanising cruelty to a co-member do nothing?
Anele’s abuse of Ezeiruaku was a clear abuse of power, and bad for the image of the Nigerian Army. It was yet another instance of an unacceptable mentality exhibited by some members of the country’s armed forces who think they are above the law and can get away with acts of lawlessness against civilians.
It is reassuring that the army condemned Anele’s action, describing it as “unprofessional and against established precepts of discipline in the Nigerian Army.” Director of Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu said in an apologetic statement that the officer’s conduct was “unimaginable” and had caused the army “monumental embarrassment.” The army said Anele had been sanctioned and would face regimental trial.
The military leadership should send a strong message to military personnel that abuse of power is unprofessional and unacceptable.
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