UNIOSUN: Our soldiers have gone mad again

UNDER Nigeria’s democratic dispensation, military impunity is no longer an aberration; it is becoming a frightening norm. That should alarm every citizen.

The latest allegations against soldiers of the Nigerian Army in Osogbo, Osun State, are not merely disturbing. They are horrifying. If proven, they amount not simply to indiscipline but to criminality of the vilest kind by men entrusted with the country’s defence.

Instead of protecting Nigerians, they are increasingly turning their guns, boots and brute force against defenceless civilians, this time, university students.

A female student of the Osun State University, Osogbo, identified simply as Ademola, has alleged that soldiers from the Army Depot invaded student hostels, assaulted students, stole mobile phones and other valuables, and attempted to assault her sexually.

Even more shocking are allegations that female students were stripped naked and forced to dance unclothed by soldiers said to have participated in the Army Depot’s passing-out parade.

If true, this is not merely abuse. It is organised humiliation, criminal assault and an unforgivable stain on the honour of the Nigerian Army.

According to Ademola’s account in a video shared by Osun DefenderNG that has since gone viral, she was alone in her hostel room preparing a meal when soldiers forced their way into the building.

She alleged that one of them pinned her against the bathroom door, told her, “You will like it,” and warned her not to scream. She eventually fought free, raised the alarm and forced the soldiers out of her room.

The allegations do not end there. Students claim that more than 60 mobile phones and other electronic devices were stolen during the invasion.

When exactly did soldiers become thieves? Since when did men trained to defend the country begin looting students’ hostels?

These are grave accusations demanding a thorough, transparent and independent investigation.

The Army says the Commandant of the Army Depot has ordered an inquiry and promised that any personnel found culpable will face the full weight of military law.

Nigeria has heard that promise too many times before. This investigation must not become another ritual of official reassurance that quietly dies once public outrage subsides.

During his visit to the hostels, the Vice-Chancellor of UNIOSUN, Odunayo Adebooye, confirmed the soldiers’ invasion and disclosed that the university had petitioned the Nigerian Army.

Adebooye urged the Federal Government and the military high command to dismiss any officers found guilty after due process. Nothing less should be acceptable.

Unfortunately, these allegations fit a disturbing and familiar pattern. This is not the first time members of the Nigerian military have treated civilians as enemies rather than citizens they swore to protect.

Only in April, soldiers killed Abdulsamad Jamiu, a young Nigerian serving under the National Youth Service Corps, inside his room in Dei-Dei, Abuja.

The Army claimed he was caught in crossfire while soldiers responded to a robbery distress call. Whatever the explanation, his death was yet another reminder of the reckless use of force that has become far too common.

Earlier this year, on January 1, Timothy Daniel, 13, was killed by a soldier who reportedly made unwanted advances towards the boy’s sister in Ete community, Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

In March last year, personnel of the Nigerian Air Force invaded the headquarters of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company in Lagos in what looked more like an assault on an enemy fortress than a dispute with a civil institution.

The officers brutalised workers, customers, passers-by and journalists. Dare Olawin of The PUNCH and other journalists were forced to sit on bare ground while soldiers seized their equipment and threatened to shoot them if they spoke.

In 2023, after a soldier was killed during an altercation with a police officer in Ogun State, soldiers retaliated by burning the Ogijo Police Station on the Ogun-Lagos border.

Although military authorities initially distanced themselves from the attack, it demonstrated how quickly military intervention in civil matters degenerates into lawlessness.

In 2022, a police inspector reportedly died after being tortured by soldiers at Trade Fair, Lagos. That same year, soldiers attached to the Nigerian Army Battalion in Ibodi, Ilesa, Osun State, tortured and extra-judicially killed car dealer Adeyinka Adekunle.

In December 2021, Mercy Ehima, a widowed police officer, accused soldiers attached to the Railway Checkpoint in Igbanke, Edo State, of killing her 24-year-old son, Christian.

Months earlier, in May 2021, soldiers shot and killed businessman Noel Chigbu for allegedly violating checkpoint regulations at the Amakohia Flyover in Owerri, Imo State.

These are not isolated tragedies. They are symptoms of a deep institutional disease.

According to Action on Armed Violence, explosive weapons and airstrikes caused hundreds of civilian casualties in Nigeria in 2024, while monitoring groups documented that multiple misdirected military operations resulted in at least 70 civilian deaths that year.

Amnesty International has consistently documented widespread abuses by the military. It says more than 7,000 detainees have died in military custody since 2011 from starvation, torture and suffocation.

The organisation further reported that between 2011 and 2020, at least 10,000 civilians died in military detention facilities across Nigeria, with the notorious Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri accounting for some of the worst abuses.

These figures are staggering. They reveal systemic failure, not the misconduct of a few rogue soldiers.

Yet Nigeria’s laws leave no room for ambiguity. The Anti-Torture Act 2017 expressly prohibits torture, secret detention, incommunicado detention and every practice that enables abuse.

Even so, court judgments awarding compensation to victims of military brutality are routinely ignored, reinforcing a culture of impunity.

Nigeria has seen this cycle before.

In November 1999, soldiers razed Odi community in Bayelsa State after criminals killed some police officers. More recently, similar concerns over collective punishment arose following military operations in Okuama, Delta State.

Perhaps nothing better illustrates this dangerous military mindset than an incident decades ago after soldiers reportedly invaded the Ikeja residence of MKO Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, following a traffic altercation involving one of his sons and a Nigerian Air Force officer.

When Abiola complained to Air Vice-Marshal Nura Imam, then a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council, Imam reportedly defended the soldiers by saying the military was trained to behave like a “mad dog.”

That chilling statement should have died with military rule. Instead, too many incidents suggest that parts of the institution still proudly embrace that poisonous mentality.

Twenty-seven years after Nigeria returned to democracy, sections of the Armed Forces continue to display a shocking disregard for civilian authority, human rights and the rule of law.

Such conduct has no place in any democracy.

The military exists to defend Nigeria against external aggression and preserve the country’s territorial integrity. Its involvement in internal security is supposed to be exceptional, temporary and subject to strict constitutional safeguards, not a licence to terrorise civilians.

Crime investigation, law enforcement, traffic management and the maintenance of public order are constitutional responsibilities of the police. They require specialised training in proportional force, evidence gathering, and community engagement skills that are fundamentally different from military combat doctrine.

When soldiers become police officers, civilians inevitably become casualties.

The greater responsibility rests with Nigeria’s political leadership. Successive presidents, as Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, have failed to insist on uncompromising civilian control, professional discipline and meaningful accountability.

As American Diplomacy rightly observes, civilian control of the military by elected officials is the bedrock of democracy.

In the United States, constitutional authority over the armed forces is firmly vested in civilian leadership, with oversight shared between the executive and legislative branches. Nigeria must embrace the same democratic principle not merely in law but in practice.

President Bola Tinubu must act decisively.

Soldiers who assault civilians, loot property, torture suspects or abuse their authority must face swift criminal prosecution, dismissal where appropriate and public accountability.

Equally important, commanders who fail to control their subordinates should no longer escape responsibility. Reprimands, demotions, compulsory retirement and even loss of commission should become standard consequences for command failure.

Beyond punishment, Nigeria must fundamentally rethink the military’s expanding domestic role.

Soldiers should be gradually withdrawn from routine internal security operations across the federation. Their prolonged deployment for policing duties has blurred institutional boundaries, weakened professionalism and multiplied opportunities for abuse.

Victims of military brutality must continue to seek justice through the courts. Human rights organisations, the media and civil society must sustain relentless pressure for accountability while educating citizens about their rights.

The allegations emerging from Osogbo cannot be dismissed as just another ugly episode. If proved, they amount to crimes committed against citizens by those sworn to defend them.

Every soldier who escapes punishment emboldens the next offender. Every act of impunity weakens public confidence in the Armed Forces. Every failure to hold the guilty accountable chips away at the foundations of Nigeria’s democracy.

A country whose citizens fear their own soldiers is a country that has dangerously lost its way.