The times are indeed very tough for both Nigerians and the security forces. Before the emergence of the insurgency of the Boko Haram sect the country's security forces have been engaged in an endless war against armed robbers.Armed robbery which used to be a phenomenon restricted to the Southern part of the country has since found its way to the North. Whether in combating armed robbery or Boko Haram brute force appears the option chosen by the security forces. Even when clues are begging to be examined the force option is often preferred. Yet force can be misapplied.The misapplication of force led to the death of a National Youth Service Corps member, Stephen Eyinnaya Nwosu. He, until his death in August, was serving in Adamawa State. He was at a bank in Gombi town, to cash money from an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) He got to the bank shortly after it was robbed. The robbers were believed to be Boko Haram members. Nwosu was shot in the leg and incapacitated by soldiers who laid ambush for the robbers believing that the Corps member who was not in uniform was a robber making late his escape.While being dragged away, Nwosu was reported to have disclosed to the soldiers that he was a member of the National Youth Service Corps and even brought out his identity card as evidence. Not caring to look at the identity card or listen to him, he was severally shot thereafter. He died on the spot. Even in war situations captured enemy soldiers are never shot dead.The soldiers who killed Nwosu believed that his claim that he was a 'youth corps member was false because he was not in youth service uniform. The soldiers must have been unaware that youth corps members have been warned not to go in public in their uniforms for fear of being targets of attack by ransom-seeking hostage takers.But the presentation of his identity card to authenticate his claim should have made the soldiers to have a rethink. If the soldiers were not convinced that the identity card was not faked, they should have handed him over to the police for further interrogation and investigation.In order not to lose this vital 'witness' they should have taken him to the nearest government hospital for treatment of his gunshot wound. Saving his life was a sine qua non for the success of further interrogation and investigation.The Adamawa State headquarters of the NYSC is neither a hidden nor forbidden place for the military intelligence unit to approach to get full information about Nwosu within three hours. The military intelligence could do this if it did not trust the police to do a good job.Apart from these, the soldiers should have been very curious to know why an Igbo man and highly educated too, could be a member of the Boko Haram sect. The arrest of Nwosu would have enabled the security agencies to know whether Boko Haram was making an inroad into the South or it still remained an essentially Northern affair.Moreover, the extra-judicial killing of the Youth Corps member by soldiers was a re-enactment of the extra-judicial killing by the police in 2009 of the Boko Haram leader, Muhammad Yusuf and his father-in-law. In the renewed fury being manifested by Boko Haram, they claimed to be avenging the death of their leaders.Unlawful killings whether of Boko Haram sect members, armed robbery suspects or petty criminals are a denial of the fundamental rights of the victims to life and fair trial. Security forces cannot justify the illegal taking of human life on mere suspicion of commission of some crime or membership of an illegal sect.Extra-judicial killing derived from the culture of impunity among security agents. That the soldiers discountenanced the NYSC identity card of late Nwosu was not accidental. It is habitual of security agents to act capriciously on the street. For instance the flashing of an office identity card in front of a policeman at a checkpoint may not be enough to make one escape being extorted. In some very bad cases it could not save one from being dumped in the cell on some flimsy charges. It was all in a bid to maximally extort.If Stephen Ehinnaya Nwosu was not to die in vain ,the Army must fish out his killers and let them explain their actions. If they were found to have flouted the guidelines for their operations, they should face trial for murder. The trial of many cases like this is the only way of spreading the message among security men that life is sacred and it cannot be taken at will by anybody that carries arms on behalf of the state.
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