It was sad to read the news and see the pictures of the young man who was allegedly killed by a soldier mobilized to enforce lockdown measures in Delta State as part of government’s plan to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 virus infection.
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It is worthy of note that not a single person had tested positive in Delta State at the time of this incident. Thus, the cure would appear to have been more dangerous than the disease in this instance!
There have been several other news and social media reports of security agents maltreating citizens and abusing their fundamental rights all in puported enforcement of government’s lockdown measures. This is all totally unacceptable.
I call on the authorities in the Nigerian Army as well as the Police and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the Delta State incident and bring the perpetrator to book to serve as a deterrent to other security agents. There must be clear rules of engagement where the Army is deployed to engage with the civilian populace and the use of arms leading to loss of life must always be a last resort.
I urge the Nigerian Bar Association to provide every necessary support to the family of the victim to ensure that this case is properly handled and that justice is done.
Whilst I urge all persons to abide by the various lockdown measures, which are ostensibly made for our benefit, we cannot tolerate law enforcement agents who employ unnecessarily extreme measures at any time, much less at this fragile time in our existence.
There is a significant and growing amount of tension in the land and we are all suffering. Let us not make things any worse than they already are.
Dr. Babatunde Ajibade, SAN, FCIArb
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