The people of Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the Chief of Defence, General Abayomi Olonishakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, General Officer Commanding, 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Joseph Irefin, and the entire military high command to take immediate steps to stop the alleged abuse of their human rights by troops of the Nigerian Army deployed in the area. 

Recall that the Chairman of Andoni LGA, Paul Lawrence Paul had brought in the military to support the Andoni Security Committee (ANOSPAC), which was created by his administration to help in addressing the security challenges facing the LGA and stemming the rising spate of clashes by various cult groups fighting for supremacy in the area.

But it appears the soldiers stationed there are doing much than they were deployed to do as residents, especially, in Ngo Town, headquarters of the LGA, lament that they are currently groaning under the heavy jackboots of the soldiers. 

A pressure group in the area, Conscious Obolo Comrades (COC) has condemned the alleged maltreatment of residents of the area, challenging the Chief of Defence, Gen. Abayomi Olonishakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, GOC, 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Joseph Irefin, and the entire military high command to rein in their troops in the area.

In a chat with Kristina Reports, Leader of Conscious Obolo Comrades (COC), Josiah Ika-Fiem named Miss Hope Ekengo and her sister, Gift Nria, an undergraduate of the Rivers State University (RSU), Port Harcourt, and his friends, among several others, as victims of military brutality in the area.

In the verbal petition, Ika-Fiem tasked the military authorities to take immediate steps to stop the gruesome violation of the rights of citizens in the course of securing Andoni LGA, emphasizing that these rights are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights, and the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), all of which Nigeria is a signatory to. 

He maintained that the youths of Andoni LGA are peaceful and law abiding and as such do not deserve such ill-treatment, stressing that the soldiers and other security operatives “should focus their energies on the criminal elements disturbing the peaceful atmosphere and disrupting the economy of the area and not innocent citizens going about their legitimate daily activities.

Conscious Obolo Comrades (COC) is a pressure group in Andoni LGA focused on advocacy for good governance and socio-economic development in the Nigerian polity, especially, in Rivers State and Andoni LGA.

Reports reaching Kristina Reports from the area indicates that the Nigerian Army were allegedly carrying out various acts of human rights abuses against residents of the area.

A detachment of the Nigerian Army, which has been in the area for some time now, was alleged to have been engaged in beating up innocent residents of the area on ‘spurious’ claims.

One of such incidents involves acts of brutality meted out on a Jambite, Miss Hope Ekengo, and her sister yesterday which resulted in severe bleeding and dislocation of her arm.

Speaking in an interview with Kristina Reports, Miss Ekengo narrated how she was accosted, beaten up and dehumanized by an officer of the Nigerian Army for allegedly not greeting him.

Another victim of the inhumane act, Gift Nria, an undergraduate of the Rivers State University (RSU), who took to social media to narrate his ordeal, said he was beaten up along with his friends at Egwede Community Junction by another officer of the Nigerian Army.

He maintained that this assault and battery by the soldiers was without any provocation, insisting that they did not commit any wrong, appealing to the military hierarchy to exercise their vicarious responsibility over their troops by calling their men to order.

Kristina Reports equally gathered that similar incidents took place at neighboring communities to Ngo Town such as Unyengala, Egwede, Agana and Agwut-Obolo.

Kristina Reports’ efforts to reach the Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations of the 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Major Charles Chigozie Ekeocha, for his reaction proved abortive as at the time of this report.