Army dismisses report on alleged torture of UNIBEN student, Ehima

The Nigerian Army on Saturday dismissed as false and misleading report on the alleged torture of one Christian Ehima to death by troops in Edo State.

A report emerged on social media on Friday that Ehima, a 24-year-old undergraduate student of Computer Science was accosted by troops at a checkpoint in Edo and brutally assaulted.

However, the army Director of Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, who reacted to the claim in a statement, urged Nigerians to disregard it.

Nwachukwu described the Nigerian Army as a professional force with total respect for the sanctity of human life and zero tolerance for infringement on the citizens’ rights.

.The spokesman added that incontrovertible evidence indicated that Ehima wandered into a military checkpoint at Igbanke in Benin on December 10 without his clothes on, and was halted by soldiers on duty.

He said: “The deceased was interrogated but could not say anything meaningful on where he was coming from or heading to. His behaviour was rather weird and indicative of someone under some sort of influence.

“The guard commander, who observed the abnormal behaviour of the deceased, immediately requested for his phone in an effort to contact any of his relations, friends or associates.

“A call on Ehima’s phone shortly after was picked by a woman who identified herself as his mother and she was invited to pick up her son, who was still very agitated and unstable.

“The mother arrived at the scene and identified herself as a police officer and was briefed about her son’s observed abnormal behaviour.

“On sighting his mother, his behaviour became aggravated.

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“Thereafter, some passers-by were mobilised to help her take him to the hospital.

“In her conversation with the soldiers, the woman attributed her son’s weird behaviour to the influence of alcohol, but soldiers present at the scene maintained that whatever was responsible for Ehima’s behaviour at that time was way beyond alcohol.

“It is also important to state that the incident was recorded both on video and audio, showing the behaviour of Christian Ehima and his mother commending the soldiers for their kind intervention.

“The evidence, including audio recordings of the police officer and her son are attached.

“Surprisingly, this unfortunate incident has been falsely reported in the social media without recourse to the reality of what transpired on the said date.”

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