TEETH 4 TEETH … With Justin Akpovi-Esade

Well Done To Those ‘Special Forces’ Soldiers, Well Done!
The first thing that came to T4T’s mind when he saw the video of those soldiers beating up a man and his partner over what looked like a road rage incident was, so, Nigeria have such ‘brave’ and fierce soldiers, and we have not won the war against Boko Haram terrorists and bandits in the northern region of the country? Then, it occurred to T4T that maybe, those ones in the video are assigned to be beating up civilians, and not fighting in the frontline, no doubt.

A Mr. Vershima Mker and Miss Lami Jennifer Iorvihi were seen in a video being brutalised and traumatised by a group of junior soldiers and an ‘agbaya’ senior officer. T4T still sees the grim face of the senior army officer breathing down Mr. Mker while his junior colleagues hit him repeatedly as he sat at the wheels of the car. One can only imagine what was going on in the mind of Miss Lami Jennifer as the soldiers were beating Mker who may be her partner, colleague, friend or a relative. It is not a situation you would wish your arch enemy to be in and T4T can connect because his then young child was in the car with him when a group of policemen were beating the living daylights out of him on a street in Surulere, Lagos, about two decades ago. The little child was screaming just as Jennifer was screaming and crying in the viral video earlier in the week.

Well, there may be succour for the victims as the acting Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Olufemi Oluyede, has directed an investigation into the alleged brutalisation of the duo. But not many Nigerians including T4T are confident that something or anything may come out of the assurances of the army chief. What happened to the soldier that threatened the Lagos state Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo Olu in a viral video sometime ago? What has happened to many soldiers that have threatened Nigerians with violence and even deaths in many viral videos in the past? The army authorities at a point even claimed most of those characters in the viral videos were not personnel of the armed forces. Case closed. Remember the ‘unknown soldiers’ that invaded late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo’s defunct Kalakuta Republic in the 70s? That should tell you what may be the outcome of the probe promised by the Nigeria Army chief, Lt. General Olufemi Oluyede.

Nigeria may be the only country, well, among few ones, where you see army personnel roaming the streets aimlessly, some doing ‘escort’ duties for buses and goods to discourage touts from extorting monies from the drivers. Back in the day when T4T was using more of commercial transport, he saw army personnel sitting in front of buses. Out of curiosity, he asked a commercial bus driver in his neighbourhood and the revelation was shocking. The personnel sits in front of that bus all day and got paid 2,000(then) which was a tiny fraction of what the bus driver would pay ‘agberos’ at every bus stop he picked or dropped passengers; saved the driver a whole lot. So, when next you see a soldier dressed fully in his uniform, sitting comfortably in front of a commercial bus, he may be the ‘escort’ of that bus. The agberos give such a bus a wide berth. If you live in Lagos and still use commercial buses, you must have noticed this, if you have not noticed it, T4T has given you a clue now. So, tell T4T, why some of these soldiers will not behave like thugs and beat up civilians over small issues such as right of way?

Anyway, this is what T4T suggests should happen to the ‘special forces’ soldiers trained by the Nigerian army to beat civilians. After the investigation and they are found guilty, if they are found guilty, they should immediately be deployed to Sambisa forest to join their colleagues in the frontline and help us beat up Boko haram terrorists with the same energy they used in beating up Mr. Vershima Mker and Miss Lami Jennifer. That is fair enough punishment, or what do you think?