Commission lauds army for sentencing soldier who abused teenager
NAN-DS-10
Soldier
By Ali Inuwa
Maiduguri, Oct. 18, 2016 (NAN) The National Human Rights Commission has commended the Nigerian Army for prosecuting Staff Sergeant Umar Sale, for causing bodily injury to a teenager, Muhammad Sale, who allegedly stole his money.
Mrs Jummai Mshelia, the Borno Zonal Coordinator of the commission, made the commendation on Tuesday in Maiduguri, shortly after Sale was sentenced to a three-year imprisonment by a General Court Marshal (GCM) of the Nigerian Army.
Mshelia said that the commission was elated by the judgment which had shown that the Nigerian Army had great respect for the law.
She said that the commission had monitored the progress of the case from inception because of its merit and commended the court for a job well done.
“The commission wishes to commend the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff for constituting the GCM to try the case.
“We are happy today that justice has been done,’’ Mishelia said.
Also speaking, the father of the teenager, Malam Usman Muhammad, said that the judgment had vindicated the Nigerian Army as being a respecter of the dignity of the people.
“When the situation occurred, I became confused; in fact, I lost hope in everything because the accused was a soldier.
“Even when the National Human Rights Commission took over the case I still had some doubt because we are poor people, but I thank God that justice has been done today,’’ Muhammad said.
He said that the problem started early in the year when the soldier accused his teenage son of theft.
“One day he accused my son of stealing his money, the boy begged him because they were so closed.
“But the soldier came back in the evening to tie him on an electricity pole using a cable wire,’’ Muhammad said.
He said that the boy was left after about seven hours on the pole.
“By the time he was released, one of his hands had gone bad; the hand was amputated when we took him to hospital.
“The other hand was badly damaged too but doctors carried out a surgery and saved it,’’ Muhammad said.
He said the boy might not be able to even use the other hand left and called on philanthropists to help toward rehabilitating the boy to enable him to live a normal life. (NAN)
ABI/FF/AMY
Edited by Fela Fashoro and Abdullahi Yusuf