Dume Okoro graduated from Delta State University, Abraka over a year ago. He graduated from the department of Political Science and after that he moved to Benin while waiting for the next line of program. But on Thursday, March 23, 2017, he visited Abraka, according to him, to spend the weekend. At 8pm while seeing off his girlfriend, he was accosted by soldiers who blocked him, beat him up, hit him with the gun and drove off.
Okoro expressed surprise at the development thinking there was any issue in Abraka that might have led to such maltreatment. But his search and inquiries proved that there was no issue in the university town. The incident, according to him, happened along campus 4 junction in Abraka. For him, it was an embarrassment and assault to him but he has to nurse his wounds himself because he is helpless as ordinary civilian.
“I put a call to the SUG president to find out whether anything was happening in town, he said nothing. I was shocked over the beating. If they should continue like this, they will scare students from the town,” Okoro said. For him, it was a wrong signal to current and prospective students of the university.
Vice Chancellor of the Delta State University, Professor Victor Peretomode and Dean of Student Affairs, Professor Augustus Atubi who denied army harassing students in Abraka
He said: “Before, it was the police that was doing this but now, it is soldiers. We now see soldiers and run. We thought they came for the Fulani herdsmen who are killing people but they are intimidating students and harassing innocent youths.
“When you call your friend to come out at night, they will refuse because they will say soldiers will beat them. Once it’s 8pm, every student stays indoors. Except you dress like mother of Mary, wear a long gown and long shirt, you cannot go out. No more free life. Soldiers are making the system look like military regime, it’s too bad.”
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For a Sociology student, Blessing Imafidon, though she has not experienced one as a student, she agreed that soldiers are actually harassing students in Abraka. “Yes, she told NAIJ.com, ‘I have seen one but not in the school area but within the town and in the night. Most of the girls do not dress well, they put on crop top and they will show their tummy. They will wear bum short and when soldiers are passing, they will stop and ask them to either do frog jump or they flog their backside”
According to her, seeing the girls in their shorts showing their backside, they will tell the students to draw down the short and they will flog their open bum. At other times, when some of the girls are on okada, their trousers do not cover their body, the soldiers will stop them and flog them.
“I have seen them, I have witnessed that. In the police station road, Ekrejeta area and within the bank zone are some of the flashpoints where we witness some of those things. And it’s usually around 7 to 8pm when such things happen,” Imafidon narrated.
Another student, who did not want to be named, narrated an encounter she had with the soldiers on the same Ekrejeta area close to Agbarah junction. She told NAIJ.com that she and a friend were out to buy food, though agreed that it was very late at night. The soldiers stopped the tricycle that carried them and ordered them to do frog jump for wearing, according to her, short things.
“We told them we wanted to get food, though it was late. This thing happens every time. There was one girl they stopped on the road, they asked her why she was not wearing bra. Even one girl at the police station junction, they told her to do press up.
“Our punishment was frog jump, for two days I was having pain all over my body. I’ve been hearing stories but my experience was last two weeks.”
Investigations revealed that for the ladies, most of their offence is wearing shorts and clothing that expose their bodies. Sarah Akpojene of English and Literary Studies also had a similar experience with the soldiers. As it were, her case also was at 8pm and for wearing shorts.
DELSU Vice Chancellor, Professor Peretomode and Chairman of Committee for defense of Human Rights, Comrade Prince Taiga. Taiga is calling on university authority to call the soldiers to order
“They told us to do frog jump because we were wearing short nicker. My thighs were paining me for three days as if they use a log of wood to flog me.” She added that they wear shorts because it’s late hour of the night. But she didn’t tell anybody besides her acquaintances.
Among youths and indigenes of the town, the story is not different from those of students. Michael Agu, who spoke with NAIJ.com opposite the police station, was worried over the development. For him, going by the trend of events in the world, people have right to dress the way they like to dress. He said the girls bought their wears with their money. Hence, they should be allowed to wear what they want as far as there is no constitutional provision banning them from such wears.
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He said the soldiers have done it to the extent that people get afraid coming close to where the soldiers park their Hilux vans. “They are making life uncomfortable for us in Abraka. When you see soldiers’ vehicle in your front, you just have to change your direction. You can’t just tell the crime they will lay on your head, they can just say why are you putting on blue shirt or why is all your cloth red? And you will be flogged or made to do frog jump,” he told NAIJ.com.
Agu added that he had not been flogged by the soldiers because he has removed everything that would make him a victim from his body. He, however, argued that the soldiers are restricting his movement, saying: “They don’t want me to be free, can you imagine when I go to barbing salon and barb punk and when I come out a soldier will force me to clean it off, he wants me to be like him. No, I don’t like that.”
He, however, said some people do it in excess and as such “if you flog those people, yes, we will not be worried. They actually did wrong. But not everything you just see on somebody, you flog him for that. The thing is becoming too much. Please tell them to calm down. They should take it easy with us because we are civilians.”
But, Mr. Ransom Obas, also an indigene of the town, thinks otherwise. He rather blame the students and not soldiers for the humiliation some of them receive. For him, the students are the cause, noting that they do not dress well. He argued that parents sent their children to school but getting to school instead of learning, they begin to flaunt their bodies.
He faulted a situation where 18-year-old student would wear pant on the main road, insisting that the harassment is done to students who are not well behaved and not to all students. He agreed that certainly, the soldiers are harassing the students. “Very well, it happens at the police junction. You see the students sagging, open their backside, that is why the soldiers are teaching them how to dress. That’s just the truth.
“The solders do not harass anybody unjustly. They cannot come to you and harass you. I witnessed one when they did it. I do not see anything wrong with that. The only oppression I see here is the police. As a boy of 18 years, you are not allowed to use a phone of just N25,000. They will stop on the road, ask you how you got your phone, who bought the phone for you and all those rubbish.”
Chairman of Committee for Defense of Human Right, Comrade Prince Taiga, says the university authority must caution the soldiers and bring them to order
In the same vein, Benjamin Okiemute, also an indigene, said the issue of harassment is not actually that of soldiers but the police. According to him, the major problem youths face in the town is from the police. He said police harass youths who have big cars thinking they are yahoo boys. Hence, he condemned the police, saying they are nothing to write home about.
A human rights group, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Delta, kicked against the development. The committee chairman in Delta, Comrade Prince Taiga, said it was wrong for soldiers to harass students against the law. Prince Taiga said the constitution of Nigeria guarantees freedom of movement to all Nigerians.
He said there is no place in the constitution which forbids Nigerians from moving at 1am or 12 midnight. He said rather than coerce people from moving at night, people should use their own wisdom to move at night because of the danger that is associated with the night.
“If you have anything important to do round the clock, the constitution gives you the freedom to move. It is only when there is curfew in any community that is when there could be restriction of movement. The military has no right to harass anybody. Even though you are found to have committed a crime, until you are declared guilty by the court, you are deemed innocent.
“Anywhere you are or whatever you do, the army has no right to beat you for no offence. That is infringement on your right and they are supposed to be charged to court for assault on students. Using students to do frog jump, press up or slapping is against the fundamental rights of students,” Taiga explained.
Although he commended the Nigerian army for bringing peace and sanity to the town since they were deployed to Abraka, he, however, said the university authority should look critically into the issues raised by the students and caution the soldiers to face what brought them to the town.
But traditional ruler of the community, HRM Majoroh Akpomeyoma, has a different view. As the father of the community, he said from his findings, there is no such occurrence in Abraka town. He said so far there has been no complaints from students with regards to military harassment or beating of any kind. He told NAIJ.com that the Community Security Officer has carried out investigations and exonerated the soldiers from the allegations against them.
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He said students have two ways of complaining, either through the Student Union Government (SUG) or directly to the palace. But as far as he has observed and seen there is no complaints from students. Hence there is no harassment of students in Abraka town.
DELSU students and youths of Abraka community say soldiers are harassing them but soldiers deny saying it is a false alarm
He blamed the students for some of their misbehaviours, saying some of them have many identity cards bearing different names, adding that the attitude of some students are unbecoming of students in higher institutions of learning. Such actions, he said, could predispose them to harassment from soldiers.
He condemned wearing provocative dresses. He said there is no difference between the behavior of some students and that of criminals. “When you go to their apartment, you may see incriminating things in their rooms. No parent will encourage their children to do what some of them are doing. Most of these people you see are criminals," the royal father said.
However, he said for the training soldiers are given, they cannot behave as civilians. “You should know the training of soldiers, it is geared towards brutality. Before you get you pound of flesh, they have pounced on you. You must learn the psychology of soldiers, they can embarrass you some times. But so far they have been good to us. They have had good relationship with us,” the monarch said.
President of the Student Union Government (SUG) Calusy Otighoarewen, agreed with the human rights group that there is no law banning students from moving at any time of the day. He said as far as he is aware, he has no knowledge of any law against movement at night. “There is no law that students should not move at night.
“Let them bring the law which says students should not move from 8pm. I move at night. Vigilantes have never molested me, anyone that fights me, I fight him. He gives me mark, I give him mark. I move anytime of the day. If something is pursuing you in the night, make sure you catch it up,” the SUG President said.
He, however, advised students to be cautious of soldiers, noting that soldiers could flare up at the slightest error of civilians. He said where soldiers are coming from, especially recruits, predisposes them to harsh behavior. He added that students should also dress well, saying there are dress codes in some faculties, especially Faculty of Education, insisting that students should practice what they learn in school outside the campus.
For Tomi Akporoghene, one of the students who was denied a student of the school, the SUG President said it was not that he is not student but the statement was made following the annoyance of the university authority over the initial report made on the army brutality of students.
He said: “Tomi Akporoghene is our student, it was out of anger that the university had to make the statement that he is not a student. Not that they were denying his studentship, but they were denying his office that he quoted in the initial report. The office is not recognized by the university. President of all presidents is an adhoc arrangement. It’s not in the university arrangement. It was that position the university was denying, not the student in person.”
However, he said any issue that affects students should be channeled through him to the university management, noting that it is only when he receives a complaint that he could act but without a formal complaint, it is deemed that there is no issue.
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Dean of Students of the university, Professor Augustus Atubi, denied claims of soldiers harassing students in Abraka. For him, the allegations are false and aimed at tainting the image of the soldiers who have contributed to the peace of the community. He described journalists who have made such reports as fraudulent, wicked and are bent on denting the image of the institution.
He said there has been no report from students, indicating harassment from soldiers, noting that the university chief security officer made inquiries and discovered that there was no report of such, consequently members of the general public should disregard such claims, even as he commended the army for their actions.
Also, army commander of the 222Battalion, Captain Alfred, stationed in Abraka, denied harassment of students. When NAIJ.com called to verify the claims, he referred our reporter to the Dean of Students of the university, saying he was in the best position to speak.
“If you want to confirm anything, go to the Dean of students affairs. To be a professor in Nigeria is not an easy thing. The professors cannot lie, the royal father also cannot lie.
“If there is anything like that, the Dean of students and the Vice Chancellor will be able to tell you the truth. Anything you are hearing is false.
“The truth of the matter is that Abraka is corrupt. A lot of atrocities are happening in Abraka. So, people must carry different rumour. The allegation is not true. If you doubt, go to the school and confirm," Captain Alfred said.
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