The soldiers beat a police corporal, who drove one of the police vehicles, to pulp for allegedly blaring siren in the premises of the Warri North Local Government Council, which is close to a military outpost.
The corporal fainted because of the severe beating and was rushed to hospital for medical attention.
At press time, junior police police officers were spoiling for a showdown with soldiers in the state, saying it has become a tradition for soldiers to attack police officers in the state without justifiable reason.
State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, confirmed to Vanguard when contacted, saying the soldiers accused the police officers of blaring siren inside the secretariat of the council.
He said: "It is sheer brutality. I have reported the matter to the Inspector General of Police and contacted army authorities in the state, but they said they did not authorise the assault.
"They told us that there is no bad blood, but there is bad blood. Why did they attack fellow uniformed men in such a manner in the course of their duty? We are making a formal report on the incident.
"My stand is that the soldiers responsible for this attack should be fished out and made to face the music."
A source who spoke to Vanguard said: "The police officers from the B' Operations Department of the Delta State Police Command were on escort duty with the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Anthonia Ashiedu. It was an empowerment programme for the less privileged by the state government and because she was carrying some money for the programme, they requested police escort.
The frog jump
"As it is usual on such occasion, the siren was on when they entered the premises of Warri North Local Government Coucil and about eight soldiers came from a nearby outpost and asked the police driver, Corporal Ekome, to frog-jump.
"The police officer that led the team came to tell the soldiers that they should stop the confrontation, but the soldiers attacked him, seized his rifle and tore the button on his uniform.
"With the atmosphere charged, more soldiers joined their colleagues and insisted that the police driver must frog jump, which he resisted.
"The soldiers descended on him, ignoring the appeal from other police officers to stop creating a bad impression of Nigeria security officials in the eyes of the public.
"Some of the policemen wanted to retaliate, but were prevailed upon by the crowd, which watched the show of shame with dismay.
"The commissioner was shocked by the incident as she stood watching without knowing what to make out of the ugly show of power."
A junior police officer said: "We are waiting to know what the Commissioner of Police and others will do on this matter. If they sweep it under the carpet, I can assure you that we will attack soldiers in isolated places in the state because this is own is getting too much.
"Come to think of it, the job of internal security is that of the police. If not overzealousness, what is wrong in the police blaring siren in the premises of a local government council? Is that a reason for soldiers to attack policemen?"
(Vanguard)
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Its high time someone talked some serious senses into the Nigerian army! I just can't imagine what they were doing in town, near a council's secretariat - they ought to be in bush for crying out loud! Humiliating a fellow officer of the federal republic is a big slap on the federal government and the general populace as a whole. KJoe
ReplyDeleteIn as much as the Army action is condemnable, on the other hand I think it is time the Police also respect and abide by the laws of the land that restrict the use of sirens to some public servants. The use of sirens is only allowed for President, his vice, governors, their deputies I think, but because of the impunity of our public officers every Tom Dick and Harry use the siren to cause problems on the road and make noise around residential areas. The police is most notorious when it comes to siren usage, driving against traffic at terrible speeds, etc. Police escorts are real nuisance to the public, they value money more than lives when on escort duties as seen by their over-zealous manner in protecting the money, even when the money is being conveyed by armored bullion vans. To them (police escorts), other road users must clear off the road even when the road is so tight that other vehicles cannot maneuver to give the escort the chances to pass. It is only the military that can challenge these escorts and I believe that is what must have happened and the Police hierarchy should be fair in taking any decision, considering the fact that its escorts are always high-handed in the course of performing their duties. Money can still be escorted without noising around or harassing the public, the use of siren can even attract robbers and history has shown that well coordinated robbery attacks can overpower even the best of police escorts. The soldiers would have even beaten up the person/s being escorted to serve as deterrent to people who misuse the siren. To say more, we even find police vehicle drivers always driving menacingly on our roads. The police may want to claim they are hurrying to an emergency call, but does hurrying to emergency responses qualify any police driver to kill or destroy other properties on the way to the emergency call? No!!!, in the civilized world, police is often punished for wanton destruction during an operation, even when it is a robbery operation, you must take adverse care not to cause human or material casualties. It is only in Nigeria that all the nonsense scenes created by the police during an operation is swept under the carpet. The police is a civil organization and so should be civil in its actions, the attachment of "Force" to the nomenclature does not give the police that authority to behave otherwise. I rest my argument here.
ReplyDeleteibi like say soldier no go school
ReplyDeleteThat's right, the commissioner or police have several time stop the use of siren from ANYBODY. So what stop his officers and men to obey this simple instruction. The police should not just try because you can't fight the military. We should not forget what the police have being doing to other security personnel especially the 5 civil defence pffecers in lagos state. Its just assault with no live lost and you want to have a comfrontation that you can't finish. I advice the police to learn to build a lasting personal relationship with other security personnel.
ReplyDeleteAbeg beat dem well well nxt time dey use d siren anyhw. I support d army abeg. D police shld go to north n face bh boys since der work is interal security. D police recruiting alot of miscrenents to train today n sack tomorrom,dts one of d big problm of our society. D police are lawless people n der following d foot steps of det leaders on top.
ReplyDeleteThe act of the soldiers is condemnable as it is very barbaric and a very bad show of shame. It is high time the authorities come together to agree and make a rule that report should be made of such violation and discipline should be administered after proper investigation has been conducted. The army authorities should cooperate with the police commissioner, apologize and call their officers to order. Their MUST NOT be any reprisal action in whatever form. May God help Nigeria. Toks
ReplyDeletefighting all over the place from presidency (verbal and indirect) to NGF, to senate, house of rep, then state house of assembly, ASUU vs FG, PHCN vs FG etc etc etc God have mercy on Nigeria oo
ReplyDeleteIn this country if nigeria could be called one,policemen die more than soldiers on the course of their duty and yet they potray a very uncivilized,crude and devilish attitude towards the police who could not in any way be seen as thier enemy,are policemen not equally fighting boko haram?.Any way,i do not blame them,if a sheep is in charge of lions...............
ReplyDeleteWen police killed NSCDC officers, did heaven fall? Wat about every day 'accidental discharge' by policemen where innocent citizens are killed? They see themselves as invincible but i use soldiers swear for them. Please beat them more.
ReplyDelete