Outrage Trails Viral Video Showing Soldiers 'Roasting' Suspect

 

Some Nigerians have expressed anger at a clip showing three soldiers torturing a man suspected to have committed an offence.

While the date of the video could not be ascertained as of the time of this report, the military men could be heard speaking a mix of Hausa and pidgin English.

What the suspect did was not stated in the 30-second clip.

The video, posted on Twitter, shows the soldiers hitting the suspect, as one of them strike him with the butt of his gun.

The men tie the suspect up and hang him on an iron bar, as he dangles under a burning fire.

He has heavy logs of wood on his head, back and leg to steady him on the flame.

“You must feel it now now now,” one of the soldiers said.

“Leave am like this…”

“Don’t hit him o…” another said, as his colleague hit him with the butt of the gun.

“Make I kill am?”

The poster of the video said she could not tell the suspect’s offence.

However, Nigerians, who watched the video, called the attention of the Nigerian military to it, demanding immediate investigation.

One Daniel, @ayoadaniel, said, “Has the Nigerian military seen this video and please, there should be no denial that these aren’t our soldiers. Even in war times, rules of engagement aren’t just thrown out of the window like that; this is wrong on so many levels.”

Another Twitter user, Dat Fulani Boi, said the soldiers were on their own.

“For your information, the Nigerian army does not in any way teach this kind of inhuman punishment to the soldiers.

They just do it on their own free will. And I urge the Nigerian army to look into this. He may be a criminal, but he can be punished secretly and privately,” he wrote.

See the video.

Some of the people who commented said the suspect might be a Boko Haram terrorist, adding that the torture was justified going by the pains they had caused many families.

A Twitter user, @BonnylifeUche, however, described the act as inhumane, saying there could be no justification for it.

“We’re all against terrorists and terrorism, but this inhumane torture of a captured terrorist by Nigerian military is unacceptable and stand condemned,” he wrote.

The acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, said he was not aware of the video.