Defence Headquarters flays troops caught on video maltreating suspects

Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has described as highly regrettable the conduct of troops caught on video maltreating suspected bandits arrested along Kaduna/Abuja road.

Acting director, Defence Information, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, while reacting to the trending video, stated that “the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) has ordered a thorough investigation into the incident to bring to book all those found culpable in accordance with the military justice system,” to promptly address the anomaly.

In the statement entitled ‘AFN Condemns Ill-Treatment Of Arrested Suspects In Trending Video’, the DHQ spokesman said: “The attention of the Defence Headquarters has been drawn to a video footage trending on the social media, visually displaying the maltreatment of some suspected armed bandits and kidnappers who were arrested along Abuja/Kaduna Road during a recent operation.

“Apparently, the troops had, in their overzealousness, tied one of the suspects to a stake in a desperate attempt to extract information from him.

“The DHQ wishes to unambiguously state that the act exhibited by the troops in the video footage is very unprofessional and an outright violation of the code of conduct handed down to guide the conduct and behaviour of troops of the AFN during operations. The DHQ, therefore, in very strong terms, condemn this act of ineptitude and exhibition of lawlessness.

“It considers the conduct of the troops highly regrettable.”