First of all apologies for my recent silence. After that introduction I (John!) went incommunicado. Let it be known that my 2010 new year resolution is to post more frequently! ;-)

Remember Ms Uzoma Okere? This was the high profile case last year during which a young lady in Lagos was physically assaulted by the men attached to a senior navy officer. Apparently the lady's crime was that she did not get out of the way quickly enough when their boss' (a navy Rear-Admiral) convoy passed her. They decided that solving the issue with her via dialogue was too complicated, so they beat up this young lady, ripped up her clothes and even tried to horsewhip her - in broad daylight, in the middle of a street.

Unbeknown to them, the whole incident was witnessed and filmed by someone with their mobile phone...and within days the assault had been posted around the world (see video clip above).

Ms Okere did not let the matter die, and has filed a lawsuit (judgment due January 27 2010). One thing to note though....this kind of incident happens all the time. There are lots of other people who get harassed, beaten up or even killed by security forces that we never hear about. The reason why Uzoma's case came to public attention is because her father (Colonel Emeka Okere) is the Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly, and a retired army Colonel. Plus Uzoma is an educated lady who works for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Lagos.

Had she been poor, uneducated and not from a "prominent family", we probably would not have heard about her case.

The parties have completed the arguments in her 100 million Naira lawsuit. Let us see how it pans out. This will be a major test and statement of whether the courts are serious about punishing cases of security forces mistreating civilians.