Thursday, February 09, 2017

Nigerian Army Charged With Assault in Onitsha


Recent reports confirmed that two Nigerian soldiers have been arrested and charged with assault of a disabled man. They were filmed beating the said man with sticks in a busy street of Onitsha in Anambra State on Tuesday.

The reason for the beating appeared to be because the man was wearing a camouflage shirt.

Report also has it that the soldiers had been charged "in line with our zero tolerance for acts of indiscipline".

Human rights groups have persistently accused Nigeria's military of abuses against civilians, especially in north-east Nigeria, where it has been fighting a long-running insurgency by militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

Wearing camouflage clothing is a sensitive issue in Nigeria because militants and criminals have often worn camouflage clothing either to carry out attacks or impersonate soldiers for other criminal purposes.

Section 110 of the Nigerian criminal code says it is an offence to unlawfully wear uniform of the armed forces or dress "having the appearance... of such uniforms".


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