Military personnel invade environmental sanitation office, beat staff over battery in Bayelsa

MEN of the 16 Brigade of the Nigerian Army led by one Lieutenant Ochai Ignatius yesterday allegedly invaded and beat up a staff of the Bayelsa state Environmental Sanitation Authority ESA at its secretariat in Yenagoa, the state capital.

A statement issued by the executive chairman of the authority, Chief Robert Enogha indicated that the unfortunate incidence took place on Thursday.

According to the statement, trouble started when the authority’s task force on revenue enforcement impounded the battery of a lowbed vehicle belonging to a Port Harcourt based company for evading waste disposal/sanitation fees for 2018.

The statement further hinted that the military men numbering about 15 in an Operation Delta Safe branded hilux vehicle stormed the authority’s secretariat in a gestapo posture around 4 pm, claiming that the lowbed was conveying a swamp buggy to the 16 Brigade for work.

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The statement alleged that before Lt. Ochai went to the office of the chairman to discuss the issue, he had ordered his personnel to assault every staff of the authority at sight.

It said the military men who wielded guns and machetes chased and flogged staff of the authority, leaving many of them seriously injured, adding that even passersby were not spared.

The statement reads in parts: “it was on the instructions of Lt. Ochai that the military personnel with their normal weapons as well as machetes started chasing and flogging everyone violently.

“One wonders if machetes are now part of military weaponry in Nigeria. Their operations within a short time inflicted serious injuries on our staff including those who were passersby.

“In an attempt to escape the military assault, some of the staff had to climb the authority’s fence and in the process, one of them broke his arm.

“A passerby, Mr. Ebiseighe Ekure was dragged into the authority and thoroughly beaten and his Tecno phone destroyed.

“It is surprising that as partners in the actualization of government policies, the military in Yenagoa will be sabotaging government’s revenue drive at a time when states are encouraged to up their internally generated revenue”.

The chairman, therefore, called on the relevant authorities to investigate the officers involved in the assault and make them pay for the damages caused during the unprovoked attack on staff of the authority.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the 16th Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Major Danjuma Ibraham, said he received the report of the incident but that he is yet to get full details of the matter.

“I was called yesterday over this matter, and to frank with you, I have reached the unit that is accused of carrying out the incident. So before the day runs out, i promise to give you our position on the issue.” He said.