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Army to punish soldiers for maltreating suspected armed robber

By Karls Tsokar, Abuja
10 August 2015   |   8:29 pm
The Nigerian Army has said the soldiers caught on camera manhandling a suspected armed robber would be punished for human rights violation.

nigerian-army-training-(1)The Nigerian Army has said the soldiers caught on camera manhandling a suspected armed robber would be punished for human rights violation.

A reactionary statement issued yesterday by the acting Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR) Col. Sani Usman said, “the attention of Nigerian Army has been drawn to a (newspaper) front page photograph of some soldiers maltreating a suspected robber at Mararraba, Nasarawa State.”

While conceding that the publication has done incalculable damage to the image of the army as it also became the trending post on the social media, Usman said, “the act was unfortunate and at variance with military ethics and professionalism.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to inform the public that the perpetrators of the offence have been identified, summoned and would face disciplinary action.

“The Army has also reached out to the management of the newspaper over this poor and worrisome editorial judgement by giving this misdemeanor prominence in their paper.

Alerting appropriate Nigerian Army authorities would have been a better option that will be met with prompt response,” he said. Recall that the leadership of Nigerian Army has in recent times been dealing with allegations of abuse of human rights against her personnel.

An accusation that was further made worse with the publication of the international anti-human rights advocacy group, Amnesty International (AI) accusing the Army of human rights abuse.

This triggered a nationwide support for the Army, condemning the group, especially as the report focused on the fight against insurgents in the northeast.

Col. Usman said, “the authorities of the Army can assure the public that it would continue to protect and respect human rights and that this regrettable incidence should not be used as a yardstick to judge the entire Army.”

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