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Monday, 20 February 2017

Of uniforms, impersonation and confusion


Obo Effanga
It is interesting to note that the Nigerian Army rose to the occasion
by applying sanctions to two of their men who assaulted a physically challenged man on
the streets of Onitsha recently. The said assault was as violent as
they come, typical of what military personnel are known for when they
are out to exert violence on anyone. The reason for the beastly
behaviour of the two junior officers of the Army was that their victim
was wearing a military combat uniform.
For those who may not know, it is actually a criminal offence in
Nigeria for persons who are not in the military to wear any military
uniform or insignia. The reason is simple. It is meant to avoid people
passing off as military officials, given the sensitivity of the
responsibilities of members of the institution. In our climes and
present reality, it becomes even more a challenge, given the reported
incidents of people dressed as military officials and carrying out
crimes.
However, the two soldiers failed the test of common sense when
interpreting the situation and taking a decision. I would have thought
such wisdom was a given to members of the military, given their
training. Unfortunately, this was not the case in the Onitsha
incident. Common sense would have warned the violent soldiers that a
physically challenged on the streets in military fatigue could not possibly be
attempting to pass off as a soldier.
Granted but not admitting that the soldiers had good reasons to
believe that their victim was in fact impersonating a soldier, the
appropriate action expected of the soldiers was to apprehend and hand
the suspect over to the police. The military institution and its
personnel do not have the power to investigate, prosecute or execute
punishments in conduct not involving their personnel.  But that

really is beside the main point in this case. There was a clear abuse
of the victim’s human rights to human dignity.
And that is the point I make to stress here because such abuses are
routine engagement patterns by the military, paramilitary and police
personnel, in their contacts with hapless civilians. As a matter of
fact, one of the reasons this incident became an issue was because
someone recorded and posted it on the internet and it involves a
person with disability, thus bringing negative consequences on the
image of the Nigerian Army. Many Nigerians would admit to having
personally witnessed similar or worse incidents of abuse by the
security agents, the military and paramilitary service personnel. Even
if they have not witnessed, they must have had reports or seen videos
or photos of such.
The implication of this incident is that our security, military and
paramilitary institutions have to invest more in the training and
retraining of their personnel on issues of law and human rights. There
is a need to train them on what their relationship with the civilian
populace ought to be, especially in a democracy. And that includes the
fact that their institution must be subject to laws and rules of
engagement based on the Constitution which is superior to all other
laws, military laws inclusive.
While we may blame the two junior officers for being the ones caught
in this particular crime, we cannot feign ignorance of the fact that
their attitude may reflect the dominant attitude of members of their
institution, including their superior officers. Too often members of
the military, police and any state agency that wears uniforms carry on
with airs of importance that comes only by reason of the uniform they
wear. Even non-state agencies who wear uniforms imagine themselves to
be superior to their peers. They expect, demand and claim to be
entitled to the right of way, against all others in the public, no
matter the circumstance. That is why they expect others to get off the
road when they are moving.
The attitude of superiority of citizens in uniforms extends even to
the boys scout members when relating with their peers who do not
belong to their group. How that came about is difficult to tell but
society needs to do a lot to bring every citizen to understand the
fact of equality of human persons.
This attitude of ‘uniformed’ men feeling they are above the law gets
displayed in many ways. In fact, these days, many of them do not even
bother wearing their uniforms when carrying out their duties, thus
causing confusion for members of the public as to whom they are
dealing with.
I have on a few occasions seen men dressed in black shirt and trousers
or jean trousers, sometimes with sandals, armed with rifles, carrying
out stop and search on roads in Abuja or directing traffic at street
junctions. And they actually expect and demand the members of the
public to recognise them as security officials in such circumstance.
Pray, how are members of the public to know when these persons are
legitimate security personnel on legitimate duties as opposed to
criminals trying to take advantage of the people? The police
authorities would do well to rein in their personnel in this area.
We expect the security, military, paramilitary and other ‘uniformed’
services to take steps to raise the human rights awareness,
appreciation and application by their personnel. One also calls on the
National Human Rights Commission to step up its engagement with these
institutions to ensure that they recognise the importance of human
rights and respect them.

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