We’re sorry, Army tells family of Okada rider beaten to death by a soldier in Lagos

The Nigerian Army has apologised to the family of Abubakar Alhaji, a Lagos-based commercial motorcyclist, who was allegedly killed by beating by Sgt. Taiwo Owoeye in Lagos.

The army tendered its apology through its counsel, Bola Oyebanji, to the Presidential Panel investigating alleged human rights abuses by the Armed Forces. It added that the culprit had been arrested and detained for murder.

“The Nigerian Army has detained Sgt. Owoeye for murder, we find the matter reprehensible and condemnable. However, this is a single act which showed that the sergeant was on his own.

“We apologise and sympathise with the family of the deceased”, the army said.

The brother of the deceased, Salihu Mojahid, who was present at the hearing, was also condoled with by the head of the panel, Justice Biobel Goodwill of the Court of Appeal.

Goodwill further directed the counsel the National Human Rights Commission, Mr Lucas Koyejo, to follow up with the trial of Owoeye in order to make sure that justice was done and to liaise with the victim’s family.

Mojahid had, while testifying on the incident before the panel, said, “On February 27, my brother called Abubakar Alhaji, a commercial motorcyclist, took a passenger to Maroko Roundabout beside Myhoung Barracks, Yaba, Lagos.

“He parked at the back of a vehicle and unknown to him someone was in the vehicle, the person in the vehicle reversed and bystanders shouted that a commercial motorcyclist is behind him. My brother knocked on the car to alert the owner that he parked behind him, the owner of the car came out and he was Sgt. Taiwo Owoeye.

“Owoeye, who was in full military uniform, slapped my brother twice. After he fell down, he started kicking my brother several times in his stomach while he was on the ground. Bystanders tried apologising to him but he refused to listen to them till my brother fell unconscious.

“When my brother became unconscious, he wanted to leave and the bystanders said ‘do you not see the state of the person you have beaten up? Sgt. Owoeye told them ‘let him die, even if he dies, nothing will happen’.

“Fellow commercial motorcyclists and military men took him to a hospital in the barracks, he was vomiting blood till the next day. My brother died on February 28 and the Commandant ordered the arrest of Sergeant Owoeye.”

According Mojahid, his brother’s corpse was not released to the family until May 25, four months after the incident.

He said, “Anytime we asked the military for his corpse, they said that they needed to do an autopsy, till now we have not received an autopsy result.”