A journalist with TheCable, Olalekan Fakoyejo, has narrated how he was assaulted by a soldier following an altercation over a traffic obstruction in the Ogba area of Lagos State.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH Metro on Monday, Fakoyejo, who is the Assistant Business Editor with TheCable, said he had boarded a tricycle from Ikeja to Ogba on Saturday when he encountered the soldiers.
He noted that the soldiers were directing traffic when the tricycle conveying him manoeuvred around the Pleasant Event Centre, off Ajao Road, Ikeja.
According to him, another tricycle had attempted to manoeuvre through traffic but was pulled over by one of the soldiers, who directed the rider to get down from the tricycle as a form of punishment.
Fakoyejo narrated, “The soldier was trying to punish a tricycle driver on a different lane. He asked the driver to step out and climb on the roof of his tricycle. What he was doing was causing traffic, and I said this is causing traffic. I was in another tricycle on another lane, which was not far from where the other tricycle was.
“The soldier heard what I said, and he dragged me out of the tricycle. He started threatening me and ordered me to go meet his colleagues who were not close to the incident. I refused to go, telling him I did nothing wrong, and he doesn’t have the right to order me to go report myself to his colleagues.
“During the period, he kept pushing me backwards towards where he said his colleagues were, then one of his colleagues came to speak to me. As I was explaining to the colleague that walked up to us, the soldier that was threatening me just slapped me immediately I turned my face towards him.”
Meanwhile, a report by TheCable stated that a video recorded by an eyewitness showed the soldier repeatedly shoving the journalist while attempting to hit him with a cudgel picked from the ground.
The report added that as the soldier pushed Fakoyejo, his phone hit the tarmac and the screen shattered.
It further noted that passers-by later urged the journalist to leave the scene to avoid further assault.
The report also stated that as Fakoyejo walked away, two soldiers accosted him and allegedly threatened to whip him while bystanders pleaded for calm.
Efforts to get a response from the Army spokesperson, Appolonia Anele, were unsuccessful as she had yet to reply to messages sent to her line as of the time of filing this report.
Instances of military personnel assaulting civilians have become a recurring concern involving the Nigerian Army, sometimes resulting in injuries or fatalities.
PUNCH Metro reported on August 27 that the Nigerian Army faced public backlash following the death of Abdulsamad Jamiu, a serving member of the National Youth Service Corps, in the Dei-Dei area of the Federal Capital Territory.
The acting Assistant Director of Army Public Relations, Odunola Olawuyi, had said the troops came under fire from fleeing suspects, leading to a gun duel in which Jamiu was caught in the crossfire.
However, the victim’s family rejected the Army’s account and demanded a public apology and justice.