Remains of Lance Corporal Benjamin Collins, who was tortured to death by three senior officers at the Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja, in 2017, has just been interred on Wednesday, 16 September 2020, by the Nigerian Army.
According to PUNCH, Collins was held in guardroom for over two years for traveling to Lagos to see his sick aunt without official permission. The senior officers had moved Collins from a guardroom at Mogadishu Barracks to a bush near the Ihejirika Quarters along the Abuja-Nyanya Expressway, where he was assaulted while in handcuffs and leg chains. Collins died after the assault which took place on February 23, 2017, and his corpse was deposited in Asokoro General Hospital. After the incident, the officers reported to their superiors that had escaped from custody.
A general court martial had in February sentenced Majors Akeem Oseni and Ogbemudia Osawe, and Second Lieutenant Nuhu Dogary to 10 years’ imprisonment for torturing Collins to death.
Collins’ funeral had in attendance his mother, Mrs Kate Dioma; uncle, Justice Daniel Isiagor of the Federal High Court; lawyer, Dr Johnson Oyewole; and representatives of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai.
The national flag was presented to the deceased’s mother by Lt. Col. S. Shuaibu on behalf of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
Oyewole, who fought to ensure justice for the deceased, thanked the COAS and the Army Headquarters Garrison Battalion for approving the funeral.