A Nigerian Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) commander came under fire by his superiors, as he was caught exercising what seemed to be a “hair-cutting discipline” of his female employers in the streets, as public humiliation.
‘Andrew’ Kumapayi, regional commander for the FRSC in the southern Rivers State, reportedly carried out the punishment of hair-cutting discipline, at an early-morning parade in the city of Port Harcourt on Monday.
An official guide for female staff at FRSC parades says they must “maintain a hairstyle that can be tucked into their beret”, but does not mention a ban on long hair.
Corp marshal of the FRSC, Dr. Bobeyo Oyeyeme, has ordered the recall of the Corp Rivers Sector commander, Mr. Ayodele ‘Andrew’ Kumpayi, for hair-cutting discipline of some female staff.
A Facebook post containing photos of the incident has now been deleted from the organisation’s official page, though the pictures have been shared thousands of times on social media.
The post said that Mr Kumapayi was carrying out a “hair, uniform and fingernails inspection” of staff.
Photos circulating on social media across the world, went viral, showing Kumpayi using a pair of scissors to execute public humiliation of the female workers by cutting their hair.
Kazeem said the recall is necessary to perform proper investigation into the matter.
Other officers involved in the incident had also been recalled, FRSC spokesman Bisi Kazeem. An investigation was under way and “appropriate sanctions” would be taken against those involved, he added.
Lauretta Onochie, an aide to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, said on Twitter that the haircuts were a “humiliation of women taken too far”.
“No man has a right to take a pair of scissors and cut a woman’s hair,” read a Twitter post by Juliet Kego.
“Even if she disobeys the standing order, you can’t cut her hair … Nigeria is not a jungle,”
Human Rights activists across the world and women’s rights activists, are taking the Nigerian government to task, so they can do a proper investigation and punish the commander for what they call “an attack on women’s liberty and a violation of women.”