Hello fellow Nairalanders, I am in deep pains as I post this message following a bitter assault by men of the Nigerian Army for simply refusing to be forced to push a vehicle. I am so pained that I want those men brought to book and possibly stop them from further harrassing innocent citizens. The problem however is that I dont know how to go about it. Please make your suggestions

please go to their barracks and report to any soldier u see without rank.

Names...
Witnesses...
Pics or Vids....

If u have one or more of the above, then something can ßξ done, if not, just move on with ur life.

I do have a name, evidence and may get witnesses

nairaland and hypocrisy! if I had died, and the story leeked to the media, nairaland would have generated the most post in my honour and calling for the heads of the soldiers.... I will find a way sha..... apart from the pain I feel in my body, i now also feel the pained by you NAIRALAND

Take solace in God.

Nigerian Soldier! just get over it and pray God touch there hearts.Otherwise you need crystal clear picture showing what happened. if not they will deny it forever.

mcdokwe: I do have a name, evidence and may get witnesses

Please post his name here on Nairaland, it is a first step, and dont get discouraged by others Nairalander who try to convince you that there is no hope or that there is nothing that you can do against the army. Please post the name of this soldier here on Nairaland.

kaii brosss... sorry oooo.... but Nairaland cannot help u on this matter.. soldiers pritect their own.... even if u get to report it to the commander... they'll promise u justice but na thier eee end....

Horus:

Please post his name here on Nairaland, it is a first step, and dont get discouraged by others Nairalander who try to convince you that there is no hope or that there is nothing that you can do against the army. Please post the name of this soldier here on Nairaland.

I was hoping I could hold on to the name until am sure who it is being leaked to

haka_nai: Nigerian Soldier! just get over it and pray God touch there hearts.Otherwise you need crystal clear picture showing what happened. if not they will deny it forever.

I think I can prove my case, all I need is an appropriate channel....

mcdokwe: I was hoping I could hold on to the name until am sure who it is being leaked to I think I can prove my case, all I need is an appropriate channel....

Then try TV stations like Channels TV. I also believe you can reach them online.Also you have action Aid.Make sure you have proof o! else you will simply add pains to you injury.Cause like someone said they would always deny it.Except where the evidence is damning.The Nigerian army can even kill innocent people and still lie about it.So beating its child play.They lack the humanity for consideration.
Three words Proof! Proof!! proof!!!

If you also got any incriminating evidence, you can forward it to international agencies and media houses.

Sadly most have taken brutality from the armed forces as part and parcel of life in Nigeria. Fucck the bullies in uniform.

if you have any information about them make public so that will can shame them till they are oga hear about it.

@OP.

Sorry to hear of your experience. It should not be happening today. Those tasked to protect and preserve the dignity of the masses should not be the ones attacking and humiliating Nigerians. Alas, that is what our Nation is for now. Institutions are now so bastardized that they work exactly opposite to how they should. I will only urge you to pursue this if you have video evidence to begin with. If not, forget it and try to move on. Without video evidence, it becomes your word against theirs. You will never win in that situation.

Even the video depicting Navy ratings brutalising a Nigerian woman only gained the lady monetary compensation. To the best of my knowledge, no one was brought to book. With video evidence you may at least gain some compensation that would make you feel better . That, pragmatically, is the level of "justice" you can get in Nigeria right now where our institutions have become a horrid joke.

Your story does not make any sense. Who owns the vehicle ? Y did u refuse to help? Is only a mad man that argues with a man holding a Gun. Maybe the vehicle in question belongs to a civilian and the vehicle was obstructing traffic, U were called to assist and u were rude and u expect them to clap for. You Abi ?

9icelag: Your story does not make any sense. Who owns the vehicle ? Y did u refuse to help? Is only a mad man that argues with a man holding a Gun. Maybe the vehicle in question belongs to a civilian and the vehicle was obstructing traffic, U were called to assist and u were rude and u expect them to clap for. You Abi ?

I agree that his story looks incomplete but I dont agree that if u are called to help and u decline then the response suld be beatng, at least u have ur reasons fo refusng too and that suld b respectd!

9icelag: Your story does not make any sense. Who owns the vehicle ? Y did u refuse to help? Is only a mad man that argues with a man holding a Gun. Maybe the vehicle in question belongs to a civilian and the vehicle was obstructing traffic, U were called to assist and u were rude and u expect them to clap for. You Abi ?

^^^
People shouldn't think like SLAVES!!!

@OP, unless you have some powerful connections, or are well connected yourself, I'm not sure any attempt to seek justice will be worth it.

I've had the same experience as you: was asked (commanded actually) along with some colleagues to push their vehicle, and one us who hesitated was slapped and shoved to the vehicle.

Needless to say the rest of quickly took our position behind the vehicle and did as we were told.

It didn't take anything away from me. . .other than my pride.

Please give a complete story of what led the soldiers to 'discipline' you.

GARRI (x7):


^^^
People shouldn't think like SLAVES!!!

u are d one that's thinking like a slave here. Soldiers are not animals as such they can't assault him without a reason. Though they don't have d right to ma n handle anyone. But my friend u re in Nigeria play safe other wise ur body go tell u.

All of you turning on the OP speak as if you are talking about a different Country. Is it because it has not happened to you? Did we not all see Naval ratings beating a Nigerian woman savagely at the command of their boss?

Some of you should google "brutality of armed forces against citizens in Nigeria". Stop the senseless attack against the OP and the insinuation he deserved this or is "lying". There are many reports, local and international, documenting the brutality of our armed forces against Nigerians so let us stop making out that the OP's experience is automatically dishonest or far-fetched.

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,NGA,,3cab1e985,0.html

On October 22 to 24, 2001, several hundred soldiers of the Nigerian army killed more than two hundred unarmed civilians and destroyed homes, shops, public buildings and other property in more than seven towns and villages in Benue State, in central-eastern Nigeria. The killings in Benue State constitute clear cases of extrajudicial executions by the Nigerian military, contravening Nigeria's obligations under international human rights law. Yet the Nigerian government has so far failed to take action against the soldiers responsible or against those who ordered the operation, or even to issue a strong condemnation of these killings. At the international level, foreign governments remained conspicuously silent. While some mentioned the Benue killings in private meetings with Nigerian officials, they refrained from doing so publicly. The information in this report is based on testimonies provided to Human Rights Watch during the visit to Benue in mid December 2001.

Gbawe: All of you turning on the OP speak as if you are talking about a different Country. Is it because it has not happened to you? Did we not all see Naval ratings beating a Nigerian woman savagely at the command of their boss?

Some of you should google "brutality of armed forces against citizens in Nigeria". Stop the senseless attack against the OP and the insinuation he deserved this or is "lying". There are many reports, local and international, documenting the brutality of our armed forces against Nigerians so let us stop making out that the OP's experience is automatically dishonest or far-fetched.

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,NGA,,3cab1e985,0.html

DAMN!!! that link was really a shocking read.

this is the first time I'm reading a comprehensive account of the ZAKI Biam massacre. To think nothing has been done over decade later is truly sad.

This was exactly how it happened...

after having lost my laptop and the project which I was supposed to have submitted, I fell sick and thought the best thing to do for sanity sake was go home to Mama. I boarded a Peace Mass heading home... we got to a bad portion of the road where we were made to alight the Bus.... off course the bus was moving even if with difficulty and the man commanded me to push the vehichle from where he was...
now these things made me not to obey his command
1. the bus was moving and needed no one to push it and no one eventually pushed it for it to leave the spot
2. I wasn't feeling too fine
3. it was commanding and it was not in anyway obligatory to push a vehichle you paid to board
4. even if the bus needed to be pushed, there was no way I could o it alone
so I pretended I wasn't the one he was talking to an he ran towards me maybe thinking his coming will make me run away but I didn't bulge... so he came and hit me severally, trying to push me towards the vehichle and I wasn't bulging yet..

...he dealt me severe blows an when he seemed to have had his fill, I spoke of how innocent I am and rebuked him, he then came back with another, they asked me to lay flat in the mud there but I vehemently refused, that was the point they both continued hitting me till I was forced to kneel in the mud. that was the point they left me, and the one that starte it picked my phone an d hande d back to me

it pains me to note that many Nigerians have seen as "normal" the brutality of the armed forces against innocent Nigerians. I may lose out on this, but believe me, I will in sometime in the future fight this injustice, not necessarily the one against me alone but that against other perceived helpless Nigerians. It happened to me now, there is no telling whom it will happen to tomorrow