The Nigerian Army has been accused of perpetuating gross impunity and the violation of fundamental human rights of residents of Shasha in Lagos state.
Chief of Air Staff, AVM Sadique Abubakar
Last night (November 11, 2015) at about 7:00 pm, I ran into what I thought was a robbery incident. It turned out to be men of the Nigerian Air Force, who by accounts of other onlookers, had come to forcefully take diesel from the Mobil filling station by Oremeji bus stop, Shasha, Lagos.
The Nigerian military men seem to be at their best when chasing, harassing and violating the rights of unarmed civilians. When confronted with armed opponents such as militants or terrorists, they suddenly become “ill-equipped and under paid”.
They cordoned off the entire bus stop, preventing every form of movement, vehicular and human; typical armed robbery style, while they beat up those who were in the filling station and had expressed displeasure at their conduct.
I saw them run into the crowd which had gathered, picking out young men who were unfortunate not to outrun them, and throwing them into their Hilux van. These Air Force men came from the 403 Electronic Maintenance Depot (403 EMD), Shasha, also called 105 Communications depot.
This is Nigeria, where going by the Amnesty International report released earlier this year; horrific war crimes committed by Nigeria’s military including 8,000 people murdered, starved, suffocated, and tortured to death.
By now, “anything” may have happened to the random people they took away. If these people are beaten to stupor or are even executed, who would know?
Someone needs to make sure the people taken by the Air Force personnel are released before they are not added to the 8,000 already murdered this year according to the Amnesty International.
This report was sent in by a resident of Shasha who does not want to be named.