We may not be eye witnesses to what transpired at the Ikorodu road, Lagos state a little over a week ago, where a commercial bus belonging to the Lagos State government allegedly killed Lance corporal Mathew Ishaya of the nigerian Army. Ishaya, was reportedly hit by one of the LAGBUS buses on the BRT lane and died due to lack of prompt medical attention. Some soldiers from the Intelligence Unit of the Nigerian Army at Yaba, according to reports, later stormed the area demanding to know the circumstances surrounding Ishaya’s death.
The soldiers, who were said to have been infuriated that their colleague was allowed to die when he could have been rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention, later saw his corpse in the bus that hit him and went wild. They allegedly blocked one side of the busy road and stopped BRT buses plying the route, setting four of the buses ablaze in the process and also destroyed some public property.
Commuters were not spared from the ordeal as they also tasted the soldiers’ wrath. In fact, some had to start placing calls to the popular Alausa-based Traffic Radio owned by the Lagos State Government to alert them of the situation.
If the conduct of the soldiers, according to reports in the media is anything to go by, then, the action of the military was reckless and lawless in expressing their grievance. The act is condemnable, especially, at this time that the country is experiencing serious threat to security, and the citizens believe that the government and its security agencies are not doing enough to protect lives and properties. If the soldiers were convinced that the driver was reckless, rather than resorting to self help by destroying those buses, humiliating innocent citizens and causing untold hardship to commuters, they should have looked for a better and civilized way of expressing their grievances.
The law holds employees responsible for wrongful acts.
I may not be wrong if I align myself with the submissions of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and human rights lawyers, Messrs Jiti Ogunye, Festus Keyamo and Femi Falana, SAN, whom on Saturday condemned the action, describing it as a disdain for civil authority.
The soldiers ought to have known that Lagos State has a civil authority that should be consulted in the ventilation of grievances. The soldier, who was killed, was allegedly riding a power bike on the dedicated lane of the BRT buses. It is no longer news that the brutalization of unarmed civilians by armed soldiers, which started in the 70s, has been a routine occurrence. The show of shame in Lagos recently was not the first time the military will go on rampage whenever there is an occurence that affects their interest.
I remember a vivid encounter one morning on my way to the office when an elderly man, well dressed was said to have packed wrongly by a soldier. The soldier failed to realise that the man was old enough to be his father but gave him the beating of his life. At that point, I began to ask myself, what wrong the man committed to have been humiliated in that manner. That is the kind of humiliation some innocent Nigerians go through in the hands of the military.
The current security situation is not an opportunity for the military to brutalize civilians at every provocation.
All the soldiers who participated in the barbaric and the unpardonable action have to be fished out, arrested and prosecuted. Soldiers are not immune from prosecution neither are they above the laws of the land. The action is a slap on the face of the civil authority and the soldiers seemed to be saying they are superior to the civil authority. The military are not above civil authority. The conduct of the military, which was vengeful and retaliatory against innocent and unarmed civil populace for reason only that one of them was allegedly involved in a fatal accident, is irresponsible and uncalled for.
After photo evidence and witnesses account, the military, through their Deputy Director, Public Relations of the 81 Division, Lieutenant Colonel Omale Ochaguba, claimed that the incident was exaggerated. Ochaguba, according to a statement made available to newsmen noted that the late soldier was riding a power bike approved by the state government and he was neither riding inside a BRT lane nor was the BRT bus that killed him on the BRT lane.
The statement further disclosed that the mayhem that was unleashed on BRT buses was the handiwork of hoodlums, who according to him seized the opportunity of the situation to vent their anger on the buses for reasons best known to them. In as much as I sympathize with the immediate family of the soldier, who lost his life in the fatal accident and also the Nigerian Army, it would be most appropriate for the soldiers, who were involved in the brigandage to be identified and punished in accordance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as this would be a deterrent to men in “uniforms” not to take laws into their hands no matter the provocation.
