Soldiers beat up ATBU deputy registrar

Written by Ahmed Mohammed, Bauchi Monday, 20 June 2011 05:01

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Soldiers of the 33 Artillery Brigade headquarters in Bauchi went berserk over the weekend, beating up a deputy registrar of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Mr. Andee Iheme and his wife Moji over a right of way disagreement.

Iheme and his wife were driving out of a filling station in Bauchi when they met the soldiers’ vehicle blocking the way and therefore honked. The soldiers refused to move and after a shouting match, attacked the couple, Iheme told Daily Trust in Bauchi yesterday.

The couple were injured and were being treated at the teaching hospital in Bauchi as at yesterday.

Spokesman for the 33 Artillery Brigade, Major Etete, confirmed to journalists that the men involved in the alleged attack were from the military brigade but said the incident was being investigated.

Narrating his ordeal from his hospital bed to reporters at the emergency ward of the Abubakar Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Iheme who was groaning and had injuries on his head, said the incident happened on Saturday around the Mobil filing station at the Gidan Mai area in the state capital.

His wife was seen having a swollen mouth at the hospital.

Iheme said he was on his way back from an official duty on that fateful day when the incident happened.

He said, “When I got to Gidan Mai, I called my wife to come and pick me at Mobil filing station. This was about a few minutes to four. My wife came and I got into the car. Just as we were going to get out of the filing station, a blue Hilux van with two compartments just parked in front of us across the road. So my wife horned for him to move on.

“The Hilux van (driver) refused to move. She horned again... When my wife horned again, the next thing we saw was that the man who was on the driver’s seat did the sign of ‘uwaka’ (an abusive gesture) with his two hands to us and I was shocked.

“I told my wife to horn again and she did and this man did ‘uwaka’ again and switched off the engine of his car. So I wound down my glass and told him, if eventually you move this car from here then you are a fool. He came out from the car and gave me a slap and before I knew it he was using his legs and throwing blows with me trapped in the car.

“So when I managed to come out of the car, I ran to his own car and seized the key of his car in order to stop him from driving away so that I could get help. At this point the man who was with him turned to my wife and was trying to seize the key of my own car and my wife gave him a bite and this same man who had accosted me who was driving went directly to the driver’s seat where my wife was driving and gave my wife a slap and her mouth started bleeding.”

Iheme added: “This man now called for help and suddenly I saw another Hilux van, with about six men in the Hilux vans, soldiers all armed, an army Hilux Jeep with registration number NA 379 E with 33 written at its back, they all came down and the man told them to deal with me and I was being tossed around with blows and their guns.”

He said because of the beating, he fell down and lost consciousness.

Brutality by soldiers and policemen is not uncommon on Nigerian streets. In 2008, some naval ratings beat up a girl Uzoma Okjere and stripped her naked in Lagos, causing public uproar.

There had also been incidents in recent years when policemen killed or injured road users over minor disagreements.