Female Military cadet officer, male colleagues brutalise man for complimenting her, gave him 50 slaps

Sometime in 2014, five trainee cadet military officers who were obviously obsessed by the power of their uniform decided to confirm its worth. Opportunity provided itself, when a civilian simply compliment¬ed the lady among them. Obviously amazed at the impact their uniform could have on defenceless civilians, they decided to record the scene. Un¬fortunately for them, the video found its way online through a third party.
The video clip which lasted for three minutes, showed a young man ‘rewarded’ with over 50 slaps and punches from about five cadet army officers, because he allegedly com¬plimented a young female cadet of¬ficer among them.
Below are details of what trans¬pired in the short video clip:
“Am I beautiful? Idiot!”, the fe¬male cadet officer barked at the civil¬ian, followed it with a slap.
She kept on screaming, “Describe me, how beautiful am I? Am I not like Beyonce? Am I not like Be¬yonce?”
Speaking to another Cadet, “He said I’m beautiful, am I Angelina Jo¬lie? Bastard?”
Angered that the man being ques¬tioned was not responding to her questions, she said “This bastard is not responding.”
The cadet recording the scene mockingly said, “he thinks you are playing with him…”
“ See this idiot! Squat down! … “You are telling Oga sir, she is beau¬tiful, ko? Watch MTV and see the beauty in her”, the one recording the scene said.
Continuing the questioning ac¬companied with rounds of slapping, she asked him, “are you a bastard?”
When she felt her slaps were not hitting the target, she snapped, “you are dodging my slap… come on, hon¬ey!” She adjusted his jaw for another rain of slaps, then questions.
“Are you touching it? Look at me, am I beautiful? What is beauti¬ful about me? Show me something.” Adjusting the man’s back neck, an¬other cadet slapped him. “I said bend down, open your neck, is that clear?” When one of the slaps hit the target and the man groaned in pain, the cameraman said “Gentleman, you’ re shouting! The civilian replied “I work here, please.” Upon hearing that, she ridiculed the man, “he said he is working here.”
The cadet who appeared to be enjoying how she was torturing the civilian, pulled the man by his shirt collar and dragged him to another position where she ordered him to pull off his shirt and use it to clean his bloody mouth. “Pull off your shirt, bastard, clean that blood” she thundered. “We have used our blood, is that clear? Your blood is nothing, is that clear? Because of training I broke my leg, is that clear? Oga sir, tell him you are living for him today. Don’t you know you are living be¬cause of them? You think your blood is useful?” the soldier recording the scene said. “Use that shirt to clean that blood, is that clear? You think you can bleed. If I bleed, you bleed, is that clear? Squat down, you bastard!” She thundered even as he gave him a hard kick. After the torture that lasted for more than two minutes, the victim was asked to sit-on-the-air beside another ci¬vilian being tortured by the cadets.
Enraged by the monstrous display of power by the cadet officers, Nigerians have in the last few days taken to the social media condemning the act, de-manding that the military personnel be made to face the wrath of the law.
One of such Nigerians was Chidinma who said: “They should be brought to book. She is even very ugly. I blame the guy that called this cheap dirty girl beautiful. She didn’t believe him, that was why she was mad. Indirectly say-ing, you are mocking me. Foolish peo¬ple.”
Ifidon Victor recalling a similar expe¬rience said, “Last week, I was standing outside a building waiting for a friend, two young Italian military personnel (young male and female) just stopped in front of me, well dressed in their uniforms, boots and berets. The female among them came out of the car with a briefcase. She was very young and beautiful. I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. She turned, caught me gazing at her and she gave me a charming smile and went inside the building. She knew that I was attracted to her. I wondered if that Italian military personnel was this one, and I was in Nigeria. She would have used biro to remove my eyeballs.”
Another anonymous contributor¬recalled how one (military personnel) came to the market at Nsukka last year to brutalise a man in his shop over an issue that did not concern him. “If the man is bold enough to beat her up, she will go and call all the male officers that she is having an affair with, to come to her rescue. This nonsense by all these female soldiers should really be looked into, is this what she was called out to do?”
Bae Bae , a lady said , “What? Be¬cause of nice gesture? Why do Nigerian folks in uniform tend to use that av¬enue to abuse their power? This stupid … shall die an untimely and a painful death. What a wicked beast in human skin? God punish you. Nonentity that went to join the army because she no get brain for proper education. I hate these two … already. I’m so annoyed.”
A lawyer, Ik Agbo described the incident “as a typical case of abuse of fundamental human rights by the Ni¬geria army. It’s just one in a million. I urge you to stay on this case until the soldiers involved are punished for this crime. Both the police and the military have this culture of abusing civilians’ rights. Unfortunately, most times they get away with it. Together, we must let them understand that we are neither in a military regime nor in a police state.”
Gabriel Afunwa said, “This is hor¬rible. And to think of it coming from a female officer. It goes to show how civilians are treated and humiliated by Nigerian military as if they are animals. May God help us”
Not left out were Nigerians on the streets who outrightly condemned the incident.
Those spoke to Saturday Sun decried the act. One of them is the President of Human Rights Defenders and Advocacy Centre, Comrade Innocent Agbo who was also a victim of military brutality. He recalled his experience even as he condemned the act. “This is terrible. It was almost the same sce¬nario that played out when I was mo¬lested by over 10 army officers. I lost a tooth, and had several cuts on my face. I petitioned the GOC, 82 Divi¬sion and the Chief of Army Staff, but nothing came out of it. The young of¬ficers went scot free. It is a shame we train cadets that believe it is their right to brutalise defenceless civilians”. ¬
According to Agbo, the assault and trampling on the rights of civil¬ians have become a norm for the Ni¬gerian military. He also argued that the nonchalant attitude deduced from the body language of top military commanders often fuel the acts of indiscipline exhibited among junior cadets. “Nigerian military operates with impunity. And the rank and file sometimes tries to protect these ruth¬less undisciplined cadets. The state¬ment released by the military says the incident happened in 2014 when the cadets were on holiday. If not for videos like this, nobody would have said or heard anything about it. From what I saw on the video, that lady and others are from the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA). And I know most NDA cadets entered the academy in because they are from elite families.”
Another human rights campaigner, Prince Iche, President General of the Citizen Protection and Enlighten¬ment Initiative, described the situa¬tion as sad and unjust. Iche attributes the indiscipline and flagrant abuse of the rule of law by military officers, to lack of laid down sanctions meted to officers that assault defenceless civilians. “This is such a shame to the army and to Nigeria as a nation. Our military must stop paying lip service at the way their junior officers flout the law. They need to set an example with just a few to serve as a deterrent  to others that toy with the belief that they are above the law because they wear military uniform.”
Also, Mr. Femi Oduyemi, a Law student at the University Of Lagos (UNILAG) fumes that such actions are no longer news. According to him, cases of brutality on civilians by men in uniform are becoming a norm. He suggests: “there must be a code guid¬ing how members of our army person-nel conduct themselves in public. A vicious attack on a civilian, if nothing at all, is unruly and a proof of indis¬cipline. You cannot fight indiscipline with indiscipline. Every man, whether military or civilian, whether governor of governed must be subject to the rule of law. This is the foundation upon which stable and sane societies are built. No sane society is built on the rule of force. There are enough legal remedies available to any person who believes his rights have been offended. In most cases however, soldiers bru-talise us mere mortals, not because of any breach of their rights, but because of a bruise on their egos.”
Mr Lateef Adekunle, a banker after watching the video was filled with anger: “I must comment that those soldiers in my opinion did not disgrace the young civilian. Rather they have only succeeded in disgracing themselves, and even worse, the Nigerian Armed Forces. I believe that soldiers by the nature of their endeavour and training ought to be more tolerant than the ordinary members of the society. There is a higher duty placed on them. What do Nigerian soldiers do in this country? Is it to oppress the people or defend them? In a democratic society where the rights of citizens ought to be protected, the military must be taught to be respecters of human rights.”
A legal practitioner, Barrister Aham Njoku agrees: “our soldiers need to be trained and retrained on how to relate with citizens. Stories like this don’t say well about our military. I would advise the young man abused to take his case up and petition the army authorities or report it to the police for investigation.”
Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, said  “It is high time the military authorities take a  serious look at this issue. It is getting too ram pant, and highly unbecoming of an institution that is supposed to be professional to have its personnel involved in acts of bestiality.
The superior mentality being exhibited by some men in uniform is not acceptable. I expect the military high command to sanction any of its personnel involved in brutalising civilians.
“We must commend the social media for taking the lead in exposing military men involved in this shameful act of battering civilians.
My expectation is that the regular media should now take it up from where those stories of brutality are broken by the social media.
“Civilians battered can seek redress in courts. They can drag the military personnel involved to court and claim damages. This is an issue we should not keep quiet about. The action of uniform men involved is very shameful. It is unacceptable. It is uncivilised and condemnable. I will also like to recommend that military personnel involved should be court-martialled while their police counterparts should be subjected to orderly room trial.”
Another lawyer, Gabriel Giwa-Amu said “It is a sad development. In civilised climes, you will see uniformed men not only protect civilians but also subject to civil authority. These cases of Army or military brutality on hapless civilians are giving the country a bad name. Civilian victims are encouraged to seek legal redress.
My advise to civilians is that where it is possible, they should avoid these brutal and undisciplined military elements, but where their rights are violated, they should seek legal redress. We are not in dark ages where the powerful ones oppress the powerless with no avenue to seek justice, but this time around, options are available to fight oppression and injustice.”
Wale Ogunade, also a lawyer: “This issue has been with us for a long time, and it appears as if those concerned, that is, military authorities are not concerned or bothered. And this is very sad. The military has always shown disdain for civilians, they don’t accord civilians due respect. They see themselves as Supreme Being, but this is very wrong. It is unfortunate that our military believe more in the use of force rather than the rule of law.
“Victims of military brutality can sue the Army or any of the military institutions involved, for damages. Dragging the military to court for brutalising civilians will serve as a deterrent. I expect the military High Command to intervene and put a stop to this abnormality. They should also try to organize regular trainings on military-civil relationship for their personnel.”
Debo Adeniran, an activist: “We must call a spade a spade, those military men involved in brutalizing civilians are not fit to be in uniform. They are a disgrace to the force. I believe this issue has remained with us for long because the military high command has not shown sufficient interest in putting a stop to it.
“To put a stop to this inhuman act because I regard it as an act of man’s inhumanity to fellow human beings, victims are encouraged to sue the Army and the personnel involved. We also thank God for the social media, more pictures of such incidents should be taken and posted online.”
Activist cum lawyer, Onalo Omaba: “It is very shameful and unacceptable. There must be a stop to it. In normal climes, military are subjected to civil leadership, I don’t understand why our own things should be different.
The military leadership should not appear or seem to be indifferent.”
We’ll fish out culprits- NDA
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) has condemned the bizarre act saying it will investigate the incident. It added that as a responsible organisation, it will take measures to get to the root of the issue.
A statement from the NDA reads in part: “The attention of The Nigerian Defence Academy has been drawn to a trending video showing Cadets beating some persons. Please note that NDA is investigating the incident. Preliminary investigation has confirmed the incident occurred in 2014 somewhere in Lagos while the Cadets were on break.
“NDA as a responsible institution saddled with the task of producing future military leaders will not in anyway, tolerate such unruly and flagrant mistreatment of Nigerians. The NDA under current leadership has ad-dressed most disciplinary loopholes. Further investigation is continuing.
“NDA being an organisation, responsible, disciplined will not take that kind of thing lying low. Appropriate action will be meted out after the conclusion of the investigation. The video clip was actually taken by one of the soldiers while they were on break. They should be still be in service as long as they were not dismissed.”
Sun report By Tunde Thomas, Chioma Igbokwe and Henry Okonkwo