For brutalizing a crippled man on wheelchair in Onitsha, two soldiers, Corporal Bature Samuel and Corporal Abdulazeez Usman, have been sentenced to 21 days imprisonment with hard labour.
The two soldiers of 82 Provost Company also lost their ranks.
According to a statement by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the soldiers’ ranks have been reduced from corporal to privates, coupled with the 21 days Imprisonment with Hard Labour.
The DAPR added that the convicts would also forfeit 21 days pay to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Army has also reached out to the victim of their unjustifiable assault, Mr. Chijoke Uraku (alias CJ), as widely reported by the media. We wish to reiterate our avowed determination to ensure that troops conduct themselves in the most orderly and professional manner at all times. Any act of indiscipline would not be tolerated,” Usman added.
The two soldiers of the 302 Artillery Brigade, who had already been discharged from their unit, were court-martialled on Thursday.
Addressing journalists during a news conference in Onitsha on Friday, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations of the 82 Division, Col. Sagir Musa, had earlier said that given the seriousness of the offence, the maximum sanction possible would be meted out to the erring soldiers.
He said even though it is against the law for someone who is not a soldier to put on military uniform, the conduct of the soldiers did not conform with the norms of the Nigerian Army.
The Army spokesperson explained that though the Nigerian Army volunteered to take the victim to the hospital for treatment, he refused, saying he would not take western medicine.
Uraku, who hails from Ikwo in Ebonyi State, told journalists at the briefing that the only compensation he would accept from the military authorities was to be decorated as a colonel.
He said, “I’m a commander at Egerton on the New Market Road Onitsha. I don’t want anything from you except full decoration as a colonel. I want you to give me the complete uniform to look like you people and that is the only thing that will make me happy.”
Shouting on top of his voice, the victim said he was not after the new clothes and the envelope the army offered him to assuage his pains.
To calm Uraku down, the senior army officers jocularly awarded him the title of a “colonel and commander of the Egerton command” with a promise to give him a military uniform later.
Also, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Victoria Chikwelu, commended the Army for the actions taken so far, adding that Governor Willie Obiano had directed that the victim be adequately taken care of.
