A distraught man identified as Olaide Idowu has called on the Commissioner of Delta State Police Command, Mr Wale Abass, to punish some policemen who assaulted and arrested him unlawfully.
The request was contained in a petition on his behalf by a Law Firm, Ikimi Oghenejabor & Co and addressed to the Commissioner.
According to the petition, Mr Idowu, who was in the business of buying and selling used cartons and the crushing of used plastics, was approached by the policemen on January 24 at a scrap yard along the Ovwian Road, Udu Local Government Area.
The petition stated that the three policemen attached to the Surveillance Unit of the Ovwian Police Station insisted that Mr Idowu was the owner of the scrap yard and insisted that he should go back to the scrap yard.
Upon insisting that he was not the owner, the officers, identified as Inspector Chris, Sergeant William and Police Constable Precious, rained slaps and blows on Idowu after finding out that he was not the owner.
He was later taken to the police station where he was given extra slaps till he started bleeding by the order of the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Aliyu Shaba and was asked to pay N100,000 for bail.
It was also stated that Mr Idowu was flogged with a motor fan belt and then locked in a cell by Inspector Chris.
The victim was, however, bailed out of the station with N50,000 after spending more than eight hours in the station.
It is with this series of events that Mr Idowu has called on the CP for the punishment of the erring police officers with immediate effect.
“We have been briefed and our professional services retained by MR. OLAIDE IDOWU, hereinafter be referred to as OUR CLIENT and on whose firm and clear instruction we write you this petition thus.
“It is our brief that our client is a businessman carrying on, the business of buying and selling of used cartons and the crushing of used plastics.
“It is our brief that on the 24th January 2023, our client carried a piece of iron which broke out of his crushing machine in his vehicle accompanied by one Mr Abiodun, a friend of our client to a scrap yard at Sido Close along the Ovwian Road, Ovwian Town, Udu Local Government Area.
“It is also our brief that when our client hurried out of the scrap yard to lock his vehicle properly at the roadside, Policemen who are attached to the Surveillance Unit of the Nigeria Police Station, Ovwian led by one Inspector Chris arrived in a Hilux Van.
“It is our further brief that two Policemen jumped down from the said Hilux Van and ordered our client to go back into the scrap yard insisting that our client was the owner of the scrap yard. However, our client replied that he was not the owner of the said scrap yard but maintained that the said Policemen enter the scrap yard to ask for the owner.
“It is also our brief that the said Policemen insisted that our client was the owner of the scrap yard and at this point, the trio of Inspector Chris, Sergeant William and Police Constable Precious slapped our client on his face severally while Sergeant Williams held our client by his trousers and began to drag our client into the scrap yard and the others continued to hit our client with fist blows and more slaps, and on hearing the outcry of our client, the actual owner of the strap yard came out and identified himself to the said Policemen as the owner of the scrap yard.
“It Is our further brief that at this stage Sergeant William and Woman Inspector Blessing appealed to Inspector Chris for the release of our client since the owner of the scrap yard had been found, but he refused and demanded that our client has to bail himself at the Police Station.
“It is also our brief that at the Police Station at about 3:00 pm, Inspector Chris took our client to the office of the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Aliyu Shaba who requested that our client be brought before him in his office and upon being brought to the Divisional Police Officer’s office, the Divisional Police Officer without hearing from our client ordered Inspector Chris standing by at the office to give five slaps to our client.
“It is our brief that while the said Inspector was slapping our client and peradventure our client rubbed the cheek for relief, the Divisional Police Officer would reorder the said Inspector Chris to start the slapping all over again. The Divisional Police Officer subsequently ordered Inspector Chris to flog our client with a motor fan belt and then to put our client in the cell pending his return.
“It is our brief that when our client’s family members and friends eventually came to the Police Station to ask for our client’s bail, Inspector Chris demanded the sum of N100,000.
“However, at about 08:30 pm that night, Inspector Chris eventually agreed to accept the sum of N50,000 and through his relatives, our client had to make a POS withdrawal of N20,000 and the relatives added N30,000 which our client paid to the said Police before our client was granted administrative bail at about 10:30 pm.
“Our client was also forced to pay the sum of N2,000.00 (Two Thousand Naira) at the counter before he was allowed to leave the Police Station for committing no offence.
“It is our brief that because it was already late at night, our client could not go to the hospital until the following morning and could not sleep as well because of the excruciating pains inflicted by the fist blow on the right eyebrow and numerous slaps by the Policemen.
“That our client snapped a photograph of his bruised eye with the blood-stained shirt. Our client later got to know the names of some of the Policemen though without their surnames. Copies of the said photographs and the patient reference card of the General Hospital, Otu-Jeremi are hereby attached for your perusal and action.
“That is the view of the above inhuman treatment, and torture inflicted upon our client on the instruction of the said Divisional Police Officer, CSP Aliyu Shaba our client has instructed us to and we hereby write you on his above complaints and to use your good office to ensure that the above Policemen are punished accordingly for their unprofessional manners as justice delayed is justice denied,” the petition read.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
May Nigeria never witness another Buhari’s govt — Primate Ayodele
The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele has said President Muhammadu Buhari-led Government performed…
‘IDAN’: All you need to know about trending Nigerian street slang
The hashtag ‘Idan’ is the latest Nigerian street slang that has been trending on social media for…
Murphy Afolabi: 7 things you probably don’t know about late Nollywood actor
Nigerian sensational actor and filmmaker, Murphy Afolabi, reportedly died on Sunday, barely 24 hours after…
WEEK BRIEF: 10th NASS’ power tussle, Seun Kuti’s assault on police… other top news
THE ongoing tussle for the principal office positions of the 10th National Assembly by the top members All Progressives Congress (APC) has…
SPOTLIGHT: Dennis Bergkamp, ‘non-flying Dutchman’ blessed with unrivalled skill, technique
Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp, born on May 10, 1969, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is widely regarded as one of the…
Ph.D graduation of a Hausa-Yoruba Nigerian in America
Last Saturday, I attended the PhD graduation of a treasured mentee of mine by the name of Abdulbasit Kassim at Rice University in…
