A local government chairman in Borno State was on Thursday reportedly subjected to corporal punishment by soldiers on duty.
Borno is one of the states currently under emergency rule and it is not unfamiliar sight to experience long vehicular queues on the roads at check points littered across the state.
According to the report by PREMIUM TIMES, the victim, identified as Hawul local government area caretaker chairman, Mr. Daniel Malang, was punished by men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) for allegedly breaking checkpoint regulations and talking down on the soldiers.
Mr. Malang had reportedly attempted to shunt his way across a long queue of vehicles at a military check point along Maiduguri-Biu road when he was caught by the soldiers.
Apparently thinking that his position would guarantee him leverage in the eyes of the soldiers, he reportedly yelled “don’t you know me? I am the executive chairman of Hawul local government.”
To which the unimpressed soldier responded, “does this place resemble Hawul local government; even if na Hawul be this, does that give you the license to break my order by not following the queue?”
It was at this juncture the soldier reportedly ordered the council boss to park his Peugeot 406 official car and asked him to step out of it, alongside his driver for frog-jump to the bewilderment of other motorists, who watched the humiliating episode.
The soldiers kept the chairman there for hours before he was later released with a stern warning not to let the act repeat itself again.
However, it was learnt from sources close to the chairman that he is in the habit of flouting check-point regulations as he was reportedly subjected to a similar treatment by soldiers in Biu.
