A VIDEO has shown soldiers of the Nigerian Army manhandling and beating staff members of a cleaning services company in Kaduna state.
It was gathered that the incident took place at the 2 Seasons Resort and Conference Center, where the company was engaged to provide services.
A staff of the company, @ayopaintedit, who shared the video on Twitter in a series of tweets seen by The ICIR on Saturday, May 6, said that the soldiers were called to the hotel by the managers after the cleaning company requested payment of outstanding fees.
Instead of resolving the matter amicably, he said the soldiers resorted to brutal force, assaulting the staff members and seizing their phones.
He added that the beaten and brutalised staff are students of an unnamed institution in the state.
“This is a video of the @HQNigerianArmy soldiers abusing powers, beating and manhandling staffs of a cleaning agency just because they cleaned a hotel and weren’t paid completely, they requested for balance,” he said.
“The mangers of the hotel called soldiers to beat them mercilessly, put them in gutters, seized their phones and threatened them… These are Nigerian students for God sake!! I’m calling on everyone to please tag the @HQNigerianArmy on this one.
“The soldiers know what they are doing is wrong, if anything is wrong can’t you call the police or solve it amicably? Why are you calling soldiers!
“The government have failed and we decided to provide food by ourselves for ourselves…@2seasonshotelaandresort, you’ve done this one oo.”
He said the incident has left several staff members injured, with one suffering a broken head, another almost losing his eyesight, and another fainting from the brutality.
In another footage, he said one of the soldiers called later, threatening to deal further with staff of the cleaning company if the Twitter post they made on the incident was not pulled down.
“Beta hues limited’s beta glitters cleaning services have thrived for years!!! You have no idea how rough it have been for we the students of Nigeria and look at the army, dealing with our staffs like criminals.
“Currently we have a staff with a broken head, one almost left blinded staff and also another staff that fainted due to this brutality.
“This is another soldier threatening our staffs that they’ll deal with them if they don’t take the video down.”
The ICIR made several unsuccessful efforts by to get reactions of concerned authorities, including the Nigerian Army, the Kaduna State Police Command, and officials of the Kaduna State government.
Phone calls to the Nigerian Army spokesperson, Clement Nwachukwu, did not go through. He did not respond to an SMS and a WhatsApp message sent to him.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, was not available for enquiries, while several phone calls to the Kaduna State Police spokesperson, Mohammed Jalige, went unanswered.
This incident has sparked outrage amongst Nigerians, who have taken to social media to demand justice for the victims.
Over the years, there have been numerous reports of extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention by the army in various parts of the country.
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