Disappointed by the action of soldiers at a check-point, the Nigerian Army has summoned one of its guard commanders in Edo State in connection with the alleged death of Christian Ehima, a 24-year-old University of Benin undergraduate studying computer science.
Mercy Ehima, the victim’s distraught mother and an Assistant Superintendent of Police with the Delta State Police Command, told newsmen that her son was tortured to death by soldiers at the Railway Checkpoint in Igbanke, Edo State.
Mercy stated her son had unwittingly boarded a kidnappers’ vehicle while travelling to a hamlet named Ewesa in Edo before Benin on Friday, December 10, 2021.
The kidnappers stumbled onto the soldiers’ roadblock, according to the 53-year-old widow, and promptly reversed.
“During the process, my kid claims he leapt out of the van and ran into the bush.” He claimed he texted me in the jungle, but I didn’t respond. He claimed that as he was walking through the bush, he came face to face with a large snake and leapt out of the way.
Christian claimed that he dashed to the Army checkpoint, which was about four poles distant. He stated he expected the troops to rush to his help, but as he was going to tell them about his ordeal, they booted him and he fell to the ground, where they began to hit him,” the grieving widow added through sobbing.
When contacted, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director of Army Public Relations, informed Newsmen that an investigation into the case had begun and that the military had no space for such behaviour.
“I’ve just phoned my PRO (Public Relations Officer) in Benin and brought it to his attention,” Nwachukwu stated. He also stated that he had contacted the Police Prosecutor in the area.
“The woman is a Delta State employee, and a probe has already begun on their end.” The Guard Commander (the commander of the checkpoint’s soldiers) has been asked to make a statement.
“We’ve started looking into it, and we’ll get to the bottom of it.” We can’t cover up such people, and we don’t have a place for such people in the system if it happened, just like the female soldier who abused the youth corper; it was properly investigated, and the officer was dealt with; we can’t cover up such people, and we don’t have a place for such people in the system if it happened.”