The civilian staff of the Ministry of Defence, under the umbrella of the Joint Executive Council, have shut down the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja in protest over the alleged brutalization of their members by soldiers.
Didam Joel, President of the Council, highlighted that a civilian staff member of the ministry has been detained by military authorities for a month, despite not being military personnel.
Joel also reported that an assistant director working at Command Secondary School in Ojo, Lagos, was brutalised without regard for civil service rules.
The Joint Executive Council comprises all affiliate unions of civilian staff working in the Ministry of Defence.
Although the Army has yet to release an official statement, a unionist from the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) in the army, Abuja, told correspondents that Ambrose Akhigbe, one of the civilians brutalised on Monday by a private soldier under the command of Lt. Akubor, is currently hospitalised.
The unionist also alleged that a laboratory scientist at the Naval Reference Hospital in Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos, was “brutally killed” just two months ago.
“We were at the heat of it, the person controlling the current crop of soldiers in all command schools in Lagos, including some civilian PSOs, are backing these shameful acts of killing MOD staff at duty posts,” said the ASCSN official.
The union demands a complete overhaul of the command schools, urging for a return to the original structure of a standard school system headed by professional education officers in the Ministry of Defence.
They suggest that the military can provide security if necessary but should not interfere with the school’s administration.
“The management of MOD should be aware that we are not backing down on this as we don’t know who is next,” the ASCSN official emphasised.
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