OVER the years, some personnel of the Nigerian military have made a habit of brutalising and even killing the very citizens they are sworn to protect. Too many see civilians as inferior beings, dismissively referring to them as “bloody civilians” and behaving as though they are above the law, the police and the institutions of a democratic society.
Such conduct betrays a dangerous disregard for the principles governing civil-military relations.
The latest example is both shocking and tragic.
A group of officers of the Nigerian Air Force reportedly beat a 43-year-old commercial bus driver, Joseph Okpe, to death in Lagos on May 9 following a dispute arising from a minor traffic incident on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.
The officers allegedly accused Okpe of colliding with their Coaster bus and demanded N100,000 as compensation for the damage. When he could not produce the money, they reportedly descended on him mercilessly.
