The Nigerian Army has arrested and detained one of the four soldiers caught on video assaulting a Nigeria Police traffic officer in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
In a statement issued by Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the army’s director of public relations, on Monday, the army said it had also initiated an investigation into the public assault perpetrated by the soldier said to be a Lance Corporal.
After obtaining a 22-second video filmed from a storeyed building in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, on Saturday, FIJ reported how four soldiers rounded up one of the two traffic officers at a junction and assaulted him.
While the traffic officer was still struggling on the ground, one of the four soldiers hit him with a rod as the second traffic officer made failed efforts to stop the violent soldiers.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Soldiers Brutalise Traffic Officer in Ibadan
FIJ gathered that the two traffic officers were Sergeant Oluwale Akande and Superintendent of Police Onisele Emmanuel.
Nwachukwu said the military authorities were making efforts “in collaboration with the Oyo State Command of the Nigeria Police Force to identify, locate and arrest the remaining culprits”.
“The vicious attack on fellow security personnel or unarmed citizens was not consistent with the ethos and professionalism of the Nigerian Army.”
In November, FIJ exclusively reported that the Nigeria Police Force was secretly gathering momentum to counter the army on allegations of police brutality against its personnel.
Alkali had directed all heads of departments, assistant commissioners and other senior officers in the police to compile incidents of brutalization of police officers by soldiers, “be it harassment, destruction of police properties, or physical confrontation from 2017 to date”.
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