Nigerian Army dismisses alleged torture, killing of man

The Nigerian Army High Command on Saturday dismissed a report making the rounds of its personnel involvement in the alleged torture and killing of a man,  one Mr Christian Ehima, describing the report as false and mischievous.

This was contained in a statement made available to Defence Correspondents in Abuja by the Director Army Public Relations, Brig-Gen Onyema Nwachukwu while reacting to the reports alleging the army’s involvement in the torture and killing of Mr Ehima.

According to him, the “Nigerian Army has been alerted to a misleading report making the rounds on social media, alleging that troops tortured one Christian Ehima to death.

“The army is a professional force that has utmost respect for the sanctity of human life and zero tolerance for infringement on the rights of the citizenry.

“While the army sympathizes with the family of Late Christian over this unfortunate incident, it is instructive to put the records in proper perspective, contrary to the misgivings peddled on the social media.

“Incontrovertible evidence indicates that Christian Ehima wandered into a military checkpoint at Wire – Ake in  Edo State on 10th December 2021,  without his clothes on, and was halted by soldiers on duty.

“He was interrogated but could not say anything meaningful on where he was coming from or heading. His behaviour was rather weird and indicative of one who was obviously under some sort of influence.

“The Guard Commander, who observed his abnormal behaviour immediately requested for his phone in an effort to contact any of his relations, friends or associates. Shortly afterwards, a call came through to his phone and the caller identified herself as his mother. The soldier invited her to pick up her son, who was still very agitated and unstable.

“Subsequently, the woman arrived at the scene and identified herself as his mother and a police officer. She was briefed about her son’s observed abnormal behaviour. In her conversation with the soldiers, she attributed her son’s weird behaviour to the influence of alcohol.

“The soldiers, however, maintained,  that whatever was responsible for  Christian’s behaviour at that time, was way beyond alcoholism. On sighting his mother his behaviour aggravated. Thereafter, some passersby were mobilized to help her take him to the hospital.

“It is also important to state that the incident was recorded both on video and audio, showing the behaviour of Christian Ehima and his mother commending the soldiers for their kind intervention.  The evidence, including audio recordings of the police officer and her son, are attached.

“Surprisingly, this unfortunate incident has been falsely reported in the social media without recourse to the reality of what transpired on the said date.”

The Army Spokesperson, therefore, urged the general public to disregard the misguided information, saying that it was clearly manipulative and evidently an attempt to bring disrepute to the service.

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