NDA under fire for shielding cadets that brutalised two park rangers

The Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna, has yet to identify or punish the nine cadets that brutalised two park officers on December 31. The inaction has thus provoked sentiments that the Nigerian military is not going to be subject to civil authorities under President Muhammadu Buhari.

Many have been quick to point at the Shiite-military clash that left more than 300 people dead—and many more missing—in Zaria, Kaduna.

One of the victims, Sunday Amari, in an interview with Sahara Reporters, recounted how the two female and seven male NDA trainees descended on the first Jabi Lake Park (in Abuja) officer for accosting one of the ladies.

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While the first park officer was getting the pasting of his life from the NDA boys scouts—a beating he said could have damaged the brain and nerve of the victim—Amari, watching from a distance, decided to find out what was going on.

But the cadets, he narrated, sprang on him and battered him, too. Their fear was that Amari witnessed their savagery, and might go ahead to report.

“Before he could speak, they descended on him and gave him a brutal beating even as he pleaded with them that he was a recreation officer at the park,” the online news medium reported.

“He revealed that at least five of the cadets participated in beating him until he passed out. He said he was left for dead, adding that a kind stranger took pity on him and conveyed him to the hospital where he spent a week recuperating from his serious injuries.”

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The NDA authorities have got the report of the incident. But it’s not certain they are willing to take action as they promised. The first problem was the wrong location of the violence. In a number of tweets, the NDA claims the military violence took place in Lagos.

Again, Amari, who hails from Opoko local government area of Benue State, said he reported the assault to the cadets’ director. And the military top hat said nothing could be done since his attackers were military cadets.