Oladipupo Paul, a 400 level student of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), has narrated how a soldier identified as Emmanuel Olayisade and his friends brutalised him for condemning his unruly attitude in the neighbourhood.

Paul said the soldier, who lives in the same compound with him, also forced him to clear his N3,500 alcohol bill at an Ikorodu lounge after the beating on Monday.

“There are four houses in my compound where a young soldier stays with one tenant,” Paul told FIJ on Tuesday. “Yesterday morning, the soldier came to me and said he would want me to follow him to see a dentist.”

Paul, who has been living with his uncle in the compound since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on its ongoing strike, condemned the soldier’s treatment of a young boy identified as Victor on the same day.

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“He said the boy was rude for walking through the middle of people who were discussing with him,” Paul said. “To correct the boy, he started beating him, asking him to prostrate on the floor. I was against it, so I returned to my uncle’s apartment to discuss what had just happened. The soldier entered and an argument erupted.” 

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FORCED TO SWIM AND DRINK IN GUTTER

“The soldier tried hitting me, but I protected myself. They took me into the room and pulled him outside,” Paul told FIJ.

About 20 minutes later, another soldier simply identified as Daniel arrived to worsen the situation.

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“He asked me what happened. I narrated everything to him,” said Paul. The angry soldier (Daniel) seized his phone afterwards.

“He started beating me up, saying, ‘How you go dey assume am? Shey na because he small?’ I was shocked because I thought we had settled the matter,” Paul said, noting that the first soldier (Olayisade) was his friend. 

In an audio obtained by FIJ, aggressive voices could be heard saying Paul’s case would be used as a lesson to residents of the estate. The men speaking in the audio instructed him to do certain things. 

“They asked me to enter the gutter, drink gutter water, asked me to roll like a log of wood, and asked me to hang on the wall,” Paul said.

Neighbours gathered to plead on my behalf, but they would not listen. I also begged. Despite that, I wasn’t released. They said I wasn’t remorseful.”

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The abuse lasted for about two hours as the soldiers waited for a naval officer to join the punishment scene, according to Paul 

“The naval guy came. He did not even ask what happened. He concluded I was the criminal and started beating me,” Paul continued. “I was beaten so terribly that the female neighbours cried and begged him to stop.”

Paul said the soldiers did not stop. “Instead, they asked me to face the sun while lying in the gutter. He poured water on me. I almost drowned. They told me to never assume a soldier. God knows what they meant.”

After manhandling him, Paul was freed. “They took me to a lounge where I spent N3,500 to settle their beer bills,” he said. 

When contacted, Olayisade, the accused soldier, asked our reporter to visit him. “Shey you be journalist?” He asked. “Come to Ikorodu polytechnic gate to gather your information.”

Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), did not answer calls placed to him. He has also not responded to a text message sent to him at press time.