The soldier who killed teenager following assault on sister

IT is distressing that as violent non-state actors are decimating innocent citizens with reckless abandon across the land, some undisciplined and unscrupulous state actors kitted and armed with taxpayers’ money keep doing exactly the same. Reported cases of security agents unleashing violence on innocent citizens keep mounting. Just how could a soldier kill a 13-year-old boy because he confronted him over an alleged sexual harassment of his 15-year-old sister? That exactly was what allegedly happened in Akwa Ibom State recently. The deceased, Timothy Daniel, was allegedly shot by a soldier attached to a petrochemical company in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of the state. Reports have it that Timothy was shot dead after allegedly confronting the soldier for making sexual advances toward his 15-year-old sister, Miracle Daniel. The horrific incident reportedly happened when late Daniel and his sister were returning home from church at about 12.05 a.m on January 1. The misguided military personnel allegedly shot Daniel in the head for having the effrontery to question his behaviour!! It was a tragic incident that was patently avoidable.

 The Army Public Relations Officer, 2 Brigade, Mbiokporo, Captain Lawal Mohammed, confirmed to newsmen that the case had been taken over by the military police and was already under investigation. It is good that the military is investigating this terrible incident. We urge that its inquiry should be painstaking in order to unravel the circumstances under which the 13-year-old boy was murdered in cold blood. The incident is condemnable and speaks volumes about the level of discipline and professionalism of some uniformed men in the country. It had better not be true, because it is unthinkable that a trained soldier would exhibit such a high level of indiscipline and callousness towards minors going about their lawful business. How could children returning home from a New Year crossover night service meet such a gruesome fate at the hands of a security agent paid by the state to protect citizens? If security agents do not protect children, who will protect them? How can a potential rapist in uniform prowl the night, looking for prey?

Why would a supposedly disciplined man belonging to a regimented service touch anyone inappropriately, let alone a minor? Why sow everlasting sorrow into an innocent family on New Year’s Day? The guns that security agents carry are meant to protect innocent citizens, but they are often turned on them. It sounds extremely strange that a soldier would harass a 15-year-old girl for any reason, and pump bullets into his protesting 13-year-old brother. Was the soldier drunk at the time of the incident? Assuming but not conceding that the soldier was infuriated because the two teenagers probably lied against him or accused him falsely, is that enough reason to pull the trigger and kill one of them? Has he forgotten that one of the rules of engagement is that he should not use his gun except his life is in danger?

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 Pray, what sort of danger could two siblings aged 13 and 15 have constituted to a trained and armed soldier to warrant killing one of them? Is death the penalty for lying or defamation, and even if it is, is it the place of a soldier to impose punishment? In other words, in the unlikely event that the soldier was the offended person in the circumstance, should he have made a recourse to the self-help that has now caused irreversible damage? Isn’t this a society governed by the rule of law? The fact is undisputed that every soldier is under obligation to obey the rule of law, and to help in upholding it. This incident, if proved, represents the worst level of callousness, lawlessness and brutality against children, and must not go unpunished.

For clarity, children are nobody’s sex toys and in any case, a soldier who commits such an act casts extreme filth on his uniform and the image of the military. Under no circumstance should a soldier, whose mere presence in an environment should scare away criminals, including sexual predators, turn out be an alleged child abuser and killer. It is disappointing. The leadership of the security agencies must prioritise the training, retraining and regular and robust sensitisation of their personnel, especially on the need for respectful and decent interface with civilians and ordinary citizens. In addition, the security agencies need to institute a mechanism for routinely and discretely checking the soundness of the minds of their personnel because it is difficult to believe that anyone of a stable mind would sexually harass a minor and gun down her younger brother for complaining. The tendency for security agents to treat ordinary citizens with disdain and brutalise, kill and generally unleash violence on them is legendary and it is really disturbing.

We state without equivocation that while security agents are respected and appreciated for their sacred and onerous duty of maintaining law and order and securing lives and properties, they are by no means superior to other Nigerians, nor are they bigger stakeholders in the Nigerian project than their civilian compatriots. If the veracity of this abominable incident is proved, the criminal masquerading as a soldier must be punished to the fullest extent of the law. He must be made to realise that the country is not a banana republic. A uniformed man who sexually harassed a minor and then killed her brother for protesting is a felon by every standard and the law must be allowed to take its course.

We urge the military authorities to make their findings on this incident public. They must  eschew the invocation of esprit de corps in favour of the suspect. It is imperative that the appropriate sanction is meted out within the precincts of military law, if the suspect is found guilty, in which case prosecution by the police in the court of law would necessarily follow. The authorities must rein in the false sense of impunity prevalent among uniformed men, and which has continued to incentivise criminality. By all legal means, Timothy Daniel must get justice. He must not be allowed to die in vain.