Makoko Brutalisation: Army Institutes Board of Inquiry to Try Soldiers

  • As police hands over arrested soldiers to army

Chiemelie Ezeobi

For attacking and brutalising some of the residents of Makoko area, the 81 Division Headquarters of the Nigerian Army (NA) on Wednesday instituted a Board Of Inquiry (BOI) to investigate the incident and recommend necessary punishment.

Following their alleged misdemeanour, policemen attached to Yaba Police Division had arrested two of the 16 soldiers that invaded the community, Privates Ihama Osaretin and Okpor Ray.

Although they were not the only ones that stormed the waterside community to attack the residents, they were, however, the only two arrested.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday at 81 Division Headquarters, Victoria Island, Lagos, the General Officer Commanding 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Isidore Edet, said the army would go after other soldiers who participated in the attack.

The GOC, who spoke through the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations (DAPR), Lieutenant Commander Kingsley Samuel, said the board of inquiry would start investigations soon.

Edet, who was reacting to a THISDAY report of the act carried out by the soldiers at the Makoko waterside community, said the findings would determine the punishment to be meted out to the soldiers.

The board, according to him, would sit for three weeks within which it is expected to also find out, among other things, whether or not the soldiers were on official duty in the area where the incident occurred, before turning in its report to the army authority.

Related Articles