Yesterday morning, I witnessed a man being beaten by a Naval officer as an officer of the Nigerian Army watched on amusedly. From where I was standing, and because of the presence of an unoccupied motorbike at the corner, I assumed the person being brutally 'disciplined' could very easily have been an errant Okada rider, having met his waterloo in the hands of an aggrieved military personnel. And knowing the bane that Okada riders have become on Lagos roads, I wasn't very quick to sympathize with him. A rather biased initial reaction I know, but I'm no saint. Neither are these Okada individuals, actually.

As I tried and failed [I was too far off] to capture the curious scene on my phone's camera, I wondered why fellow Okada riders had not rushed to the scene to fight the person who was beating up their colleague, as they are often wont to do whenever anything as little as an argument occurs between an Okada rider and a road user. The reason was not far-fetched, obviously. Who wanted to get into a rumble with uniformed men? In a country with military history such as ours, for some people, democracy is still too new to shake off the fear of the uniform especially in a situation where physical defense of oneself may be necessary.

At some point when the beating looked like it was getting too much to be justified, some brave Okada riders begun to pull up along the road to witness, even if not challenge the situation. By this time the poor man who had received uncountable strokes of the belt on his head [which he unsuccessfully parried] and had begun to blubber incoherently, definitely drew the pity of onlookers, including the author. It was no longer important that he could've been an insane Okada man. Did anyone have a right to physically torture another human being that way? If he was a thief or had committed any other recognizable felony why wasn't he being taken to the police station? It beat me. After a few more minutes of torture, the man was stripped off his trousers and asked to run along. It seemed unbelievable. He jumped on his feet and struggling to conceal his private region from glaring eyes, jogged away from the scene, stopping a few meters away to catch his breath, probably. The military men then ripped the poor guy's trousrs apart and hung the remains on a fence before going their way. Thereafter, the recently roughened up gentleman returned to the scene to reclaim his Okada. He jumped on it and rode off with nothing on his person but a white tee-shirt. I was bewildered! How could he do that? Why didn't he pick up his trousers even if they were torn, and just manage them all the way home? This man don crase o!

But I was wrong. The man was not insane at all. A few minutes after the wahala, a source who had witnessed the incident from a vantage point, alleged that the gentleman had received all that torture for having dressed in a pair of camouflage trousers. My source claimed the trousers were actually military gear. However, because I have heard eye-witness accounts of incidents where people were physically beaten by military officers because they wore clothes that resembled the Nigerian Army camouflage, I found it hard to see the incident for more than what it was; flagrant abuse of the Uniform.

For the love of all things good, can it really be an offence to wear 'camo' clothing? Back in the day, one could understand that the whipping of unsuspecting fashion conscious youth by men of the Nigerian army was nothing but an ego-trip, after all it was the military era and we all know what that meant. But now…2008? Somebody gets flogged for wearing camo?

Watching foreign movies, one sees the pride that fills little children when they are dressed in their countries' military colours. It is indescribable. And of course, the clothing companies must not be breaking any rules because several design labels employ the camouflage fabric in their business. But. In my country, I will be beaten silly if I wore clothes like that.

A very quick argument is that if camo were to be made 'legal' wear for everyone, the unscrupulous amongst us would exploit the situation;impersonating military personnel and getting away with certain misdemeanors e.g the regular intimidation of fellow road users, known in street parlance as 'chancing', or a very apt example which I witnessed personally on Ikorodu road a few weeks ago. The traffic  was as unbearable as usual and yours sincerely was sweating like a ceremonial goat at the back of a taxi, I saw a military personnel drive through the BRT lane without as much as a thought. The way she swung her car onto the lane was automatic, like she knew there would be no repercussion for her traffic offence. And there was none. Because as soon as she got to the point where an officer of  LASTMA [Lagos State Traffic Management Authority] was standing in wait for offenders, they waved at each other and flashed smiles of cameraderie. What more do you need to tell you that indeed, no matter what they say, the uniform practically makes you above certain laws? If I get away with a crime because I'm wearing something closely resembling military camouflage, does it not then tell you how deep the rot in the system is?

On a personal note, the situation does resonate in a few annoying ways. Firstly, the favourite colour of one of my siblings is army green, and the poor thing witnessed the 'torturing of the Okada rider' scene with me.

'I will never carry that my camo bag again' she huffed, recounting how once upon a time in a commercial vehicle; she had received a playful chiding from an army officer for 'carrying our bag'!

'And that my camo dress…I'm going to tear it up right now!' she fumed as she barged into the house with me close on her heel trying to restrain her…

'Afterall the thing is more 'green leaves' than camouflage…' I argued, grabbing the dress from her and folding it under my arm.

'And you think they will stand and listen while I point out the basic differences between my 'army-green-floral-patterned dress' and their army uniform abi? Abeg o… I refuse to receive that kind of beating!'

Me neither. I would probably die if one stroke of that military belt were to fall anywhere near me let alone on my skin! And it is for this reason -and this is really annoying- that I may put on some unwanted kilos in the weeks to come. You see, my running-shoes will have to remain under my bed for a while…at least until I can find concrete, citable evidence that jogging with camouflage sneakers will not land me in the hot pepper soup of an insulted army officer...at that time of the morning, and with no one to plead on my behalf? God forbid!

Robot  # 1 | 29.05.2008 21:31

Yesterdaymorning, I witnessed a man being beaten by a Naval officer as an officer of ...Read the full article.

Caeser  # 2 | 30.05.2008 00:41

Our insane society is not ripe for that type of liberty. When you allow civilians to start wearing army fatigues, you will see them next setting up check points, disobeying traffic rules and robbing other members of the public. Nigerians will definitely abuse it.

philipikita  # 3 | 30.05.2008 00:53

=Robot;4295047801> ...the unscrupulous amongst us would exploit the situation;impersonating military personnel and getting away with certain misdemeanors e.g the regular intimidation of fellow road users, known in street parlance as 'chancing'... True, but the bigger problem is the 419 military officers and men...though I don't agree this is reason to go out and torture innocent people in love with the "camo". I love the green camo too, but cannot wear it due to fear. I have the desert "camo", worn by the U.S. Army fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other desert places. It was bought for me in Washington DC., I enjoy wearing my combat pants on outings to all these miltary "mammy markets" in Abuja, some of the soldiers "tremble", thinking that I am or have been a US marine...I tell them, "I would have been proudly wearing the green camo, but you guys won't allow me!" But I enjoy "oppressing" our military officers with my desert camo, whenever I wear it, in supermarkets, in gas stations, military officers cannot stop looking at me, sometimes enviously.

Eye_Catcher  # 4 | 30.05.2008 01:10

This is just plain insanity at its purest form. Arrant nonsense. Well, what do you expect, these semi-animals are mostly unoccupied at the barracks, so small wonder that they have plenty time to scout around looking for civilians wearing "Camouflage". Of course this will only happen in Nigeria. How annoying though.

pappilo  # 5 | 30.05.2008 02:11

=Caeser;4295047834>Our insane society is not ripe for that type of liberty. When you allow civilians to start wearing army fatigues, you will see them next setting up check points, disobeying traffic rules and robbing other members of the public. Nigerians will definitely abuse it. Like they dont already. Havent you heard of robbers operating in Military and police uniforms? In Nigeria you dont have to be in miltary fatigue to disobey traffic rules. Recently at the RCCG camp I saw hundreds of cars face oncoming traffic on the express road, I cant remeber seeing anyone of the occupants wearing camo, most if not all of them were wearing civilian clothing!

fxo  # 6 | 30.05.2008 07:49

=Caeser;4295047834>Our insane society is not ripe for that type of liberty. When you allow civilians to start wearing army fatigues, you will see them next setting up check points, disobeying traffic rules and robbing other members of the public. Nigerians will definitely abuse it. The so called military 'lords" with the power and liberty to wear ' camo' already # Set-up illegal checkpoint # Disobey traffic rule # Rob other Nigerians # Embarrass and intimidate other Nigerians So when you say Nigerians will abuse it, you are right, cause those Soldiers with the liberty to wear them already abuse it. I have a friend in the US Navy and she tells me her mandate does not include engaging US citizen under any guise. And that no Commander-in-Chief has the power to instruct her to turn violence on Americans on American soil or abroad. I will like to believe that it will not hurt Nigerians to have our constitution reflect this as a mandate for our soldiers. If we claim we are a civilized culture.

wetindehapen  # 7 | 30.05.2008 09:23

Did you remember this statement form the Declaration of the Rights of Man - "All men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ....... Governments are instituted among men to secure these rights" I wander what kind of country or continent we're living in.

Akpu-Nku  # 8 | 30.05.2008 10:26

=philipikita;4295047835>True, but the bigger problem is the 419 military officers and men...though I don't agree this is reason to go out and torture innocent people in love with the "camo". I love the green camo too, but cannot wear it due to fear. I have the desert "camo", worn by the U.S. Army fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other desert places. It was bought for me in Washington DC., I enjoy wearing my combat pants on outings to all these miltary "mammy markets" in Abuja, some of the soldiers "tremble", thinking that I am or have been a US marine...I tell them, "I would have been proudly wearing the green camo, but you guys won't allow me!" But I enjoy "oppressing" our military officers with my desert camo, whenever I wear it, in supermarkets, in gas stations, military officers cannot stop looking at me, sometimes enviously. philipikita Olboy, be careful o make dem balaclava Nigerian military, mobile or docile policemen no accidentally shoot you o! You don talk am say they don begin envy you but small time e go don turn to jealousy and then den go carry bad eye put am. There is nothing like "worth of life", meaning the damn thing does not a dime in their Naija o and they are quite eager to prove it with their AK47. Sometimes sef you go forget say you no be army but because you wear that camo at the time, you go hala to them like say you be chief of army staff o, abegi. Make you no enjoy too much "oppressing" dem o.:wink:

philipikita  # 9 | 30.05.2008 23:45

=Akpu-Nku;4295048020>philipikita Olboy, be careful o make dem balaclava Nigerian military, mobile or docile policemen no accidentally shoot you o! You don talk am say they don begin envy you but small time e go don turn to jealousy and then den go carry bad eye put am. There is nothing like "worth of life", meaning the damn thing does not a dime in their Naija o and they are quite eager to prove it with their AK47. Sometimes sef you go forget say you no be army but because you wear that camo at the time, you go hala to them like say you be chief of army staff o, abegi. Make you no enjoy too much "oppressing" dem o.:wink: You talk true my broda. I will heed this salient warning.