Nigerian tweep, identified as Freezle on Twitter has narrated his experience alongside his two friends with men of the Nigerian Army while on a journey from Kaduna to Jos.
The young man who took to his Twitter handle @its_freezle explained that he was humiliated by soldiers who did not only harass him but also insulted his parents over his hairstyle.
The tweep said he had embarked on a journey alongside his friends and on getting to a checkpoint at Kurmi Idon, a military man ordered them to alight from the vehicle.
According to him, the military man further asked that they all remove their caps and upon sighting his full hair, the soldier asked that he, Freezle go to a barbershop to get a haircut immediately, a request which he declined.
He said the military man therefore ordered one of his men to get a pair of scissors to cut off his hair and when he protested against this, another soldier cocked his gun, showing enough seriousness to suggest he was ready to shoot.
This, he said made him comply as he could not tell what they were capable of doing.
In a series of tweets, he said: “Do We Still Have Rights In Nigeria? I have always been a patriotic Nigerian in speech and in action. But today I experienced the most embarrassing and humiliating thing in my life. I have heard this happen to people but it became real to me today.
“I, @pdshugar & @Kuturanki were coming to Jos from #kaduna, we’ve passed serval checking points but on arriving a checkpoint at ‘KURMI IDON’ a military man asked us all to come down, he told all my friends to take off their caps and I was the only one with much hair, so he insulted me and called me irresponsible because I was not on low cut.
“Comparing me with my friends. He went further to say I should go to a nearby barbing salon to cut my hair if not he won’t let us go, which I wasn’t ready to do.
“So he asked his other colleague to cut my hair with a (pair of) scissors, I pulled back, immediately, the other military guy cocked his gun to shoot me, and the other attempted to hit me with the head of his rifle. So I stood and the guy put the scissors into my hair.
“I was really pained not just because of my hair, but because of how hopeless I was & what our #NigerianMilitary has become. The military guy who tried to shoot at me kept calling me names & even said my parents must be useless to allow me to move around with my hairstyle.
“At the time, I’ve thought of a million and one things to do, but I didn’t take any action because I wasn’t sure of my life. I have been lamenting all through the journey to Jos.
“This made me have a rethink of staying in Nigeria. Because it’s clear that you can lose your life if you don’t adhere to someone’s personal philosophy and religious beliefs because he has a gun and camouflage on him.
“Right now I’m shocked, demoralized and hopeless about Nigeria. #HumanRightsInNigeria is a failed course.”
See more tweets from his friends:
WILL NIGERIA EVER GET BETTER?
It will take a deep 2nd thought to answer this question, especially when you don’t fit into someone else’s definition of “OKAY”
A member of the @HQNigerianArmy embarrassed me @pdshugar @Kuturanki and @its_freezle
Cc: @elrufai @samuelaruwan🧵 1/4 pic.twitter.com/oEilfbMGCe
— blvckSHUGAR💯 (@pdshugar) February 17, 2022
Well, I have always known Nigerian to be a failed country and the @HQNigerianArmy to be corrupt, but my experience today with this illiterate of a man in uniform has got to be the height of it all, the experience today simply explains what happened at the #EndSARS protest, https://t.co/OxwuQT1O90
— Kuturanki.eth (@Kuturanki) February 17, 2022
