The Nigerian Army has reacted to the death of Christian Ehima, an undergraduate of Computer Science at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) who is alleged to have been tortured to death by soldiers.
Reports say that the 24-year-old was beaten to death by some soldiers while he was travelling to Ewesa, a village in Edo State of Friday, 10th of December.
The mother of the deceased, Mercy Chima said that her son was tortured at the Railway Checkpoint in the Igbanke area of the state.
Chima, who is a senior police officer with the Delta State Police Command disclosed that her son had inadvertently boarded a kidnappers’s vehicle.
She added that the kidnappers ran into a the soldiers’s checkpoint and reversed immediately. The mother said that her son jumped down from the vehicle in the process and ran into the bush.
The police officer stated that her son ran ran to the Army checkpoint for safety but was beaten to death by the soldiers. Mrs Ehima revealed that she met her son in a pit by the checkpoint and rushed him to the hospital.
The heartbroken mother said that the UNIBEN student died hours later from internal injuries and bleeding.
In his reaction, the Army spokesperson, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu said that the Guard Commander in the state has been invited for questioning over the incident.
Nwachukwu stated that the military has no room for human rights violation adding that if found guilty, the culprits will be punished accordingly.
Speaking with PUNCH, he said, “I’ve just contacted my PRO in Benin and drew his attention to it. He said he has also contacted the Police PRO there.
“The woman actually serves in Delta State and investigations had commenced from their own end there. The Guard Commander (the head of those soldiers at the checkpoint) has been invited to issue a statement.
“Investigation had commenced and we will get to the bottom of this. Just like the female soldier that abused the youth Corper, it was properly investigated and the officer was dealt with, we can’t cover up such people, we don’t have place for such people in the system if it really happened.”
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