By Fred Jeremiah
Sequel to the CCTV footage camera flogging of young girls with sticks and stealing their phones in a saloon in Aba, Abia state, Governor Alex Otti has ordered the arrest of the officers of the Nigerian Navy caught on CCTV camera.
This information was disclosed by the Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Otti, Mr. Nedu Ekeke, he added, ” The rogue soldiers are currently in detention.”
GLOBAL RAYS investigation revealed that the defaulters Navy officers, who are members of “Operation Flush” recently set up in the state by the Governor, maltreated the girls while one of them stole their phones afterwards.
In his spirited efforts anchored on justice, equity and good governance, Governor Alex Otti has handled that case as three Hilux of military police came to the salon and made sure the pregnant worker who was assaulted by the rogue Naval officers was taken to hospital for proper care.
Mr. Ekeke asserted, “I can confirm that the Naval personnel are in detention. The Commanding Officer of the naval base has confirmed to us his sadness at the actions of his men.”
Adding, “Of course, Gov. Otti has insisted on severe punishment, and that will happen.”
Ekeke continued, “On whether the same people who assaulted the shop workers returned again this morning, it was a set of army personnel who did. And, those ones are also currently in detention.”
He took time and narrated the incident, “Two days ago, a group of naval personnel invaded a hair salon and ordered everyone – hairdressers and clients alike – to lay on the floor. They obeyed.And Then the naval personnel began assaulting them. When they finished, one of them left with a phone. Shortly after, the owner of the phone, a female customer, started looking for her phone. Apparently, in the confusion that ensued whilst the naval personnel assaulted everyone, she believed one of the barbers had made away with her phone. However, The shop manager then decided to go check the CCTV footage and saw that it was a naval officer who took the phone. This customer, it turns out, has a friend in the Army, just at a nearby formation (Ngwa High School). She ran to the soldiers and complained to them.”
On confirmation, “The soldiers intercepted the naval personnel and helped the lady retrieve her phone. Then, this morning, the soldiers somehow got to hear that the video of Tuesday’s incident was trending on social media and got angry.”
“They believed they were possibly the ones seen in footage. So they returned to the shop and ordered the shop operators to lock up everywhere. They also ordered the two barbers they saw there to jump into a car parked outside.”
He added, “The shop manager went to inquire about their offense to warrant such treatment and one of the soldiers slapped him. The Commanding Officer of the battalion from where the soldiers came was livid when he heard the story.”
Thereafter, “I spoke with him and conveyed to His Excellency Dr. Alex Otti’s clear stand on the matter: that the personnel involved must be severely punished to deter others from committing such acts in the future.”
Governor Alex Otti frowned at the incident and said, “We thank everyone who called our attention to this, and assure you that ours is a government that is intentional about a functional partnership with the citizens.”
—
