The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC has commended the Imo State Commissioner of Police, CP Aboki Danjuma for urgently intervening in a case of alleged assault and extortion by some operatives of the command.
The operatives were alleged to have assaulted the victim, one Mr Tochukwu Ukazu, who is based in New York, USA, for videoing an incident involving the driver of the vehicle conveying him to his village and the policemen.
Narrating his experience, the victim, Ukazu, recalled how he returned to Nigeria on April 5th, 2024 to visit his mother and other family members, and on Wednesday, April 24th, 2024, he chartered a Sienna car from a transport company called Abia Voyage Ltd to take him, his wife and his 4-year-old son to Asaba, Delta State from Umuahia.
“On our way to Asaba, along Mbaise Rd slightly after seven and a half and Umuoke Rd leading to Obowu police station at about 9:15 am, we met three police officers stopping and collecting money from every vehicle that drove past them. “They stopped our car and demanded the driver give them his ID card and vehicle particulars which the driver provided to them.
“The officers told the driver that his medical had expired and that he should come out of the car and they would take the car to the station.
“Police officer no 2 came inside the car and reversed it and we asked him where he was taking us to and he said to the station.
“We told him he can’t take us to the police station because we did not do anything wrong. The driver also told them they could not take his car to the station because it is a company car.
“As the police officers continued to delay us for more than 30 minutes, I used my phone to start recording what was going on for my family’s safety.
“The rest of the things that happened after the video stopped were horrible for anybody to face at the hands of police officers.
“The police officer no 2 was the one on the driver’s side with his gun, he assaulted me, punched me on my face and head, and corked his gun to shoot me.
“Police officer no 1 called ‘Tallest’ who is their leader, handcuffed me, collected my phone, forced me to open my phone and he deleted the video I made and also went into my phone trash to permanently delete the video so nobody will ever see this video.
“While all this was going on, my wife was crying and begging them to leave me. My son was crying, shouting ‘Leave my daddy’, ‘Leave my daddy’. He vomited out of fear, anxiety, and the brutality I was going through.
“At a time the police officers wanted to separate me from my family. They stopped Keke to take me inside the bush to execute me because they said I wanted to make them lose their job after many years in the police.
“The police officer no 1 ‘Tallest’ made a video of me to admit that I video-recorded them.
“My wife refused to let them take only me away and insisted that the police officers should take everyone wherever they wanted to take me to.
“The police officer no 1 said I have to pay them N100,000 if I wanted them to let me go. I told them I didn’t have up to that amount with me but offered to pay them N50,000 cash but the police officer no 1 refused and said they would take me to POS to withdraw the money.
“They later took us to POS inside the old filling station by seven and half and Umuoke Rd.
“I withdrew the
N100,000 and gave it to them before they let us go.
“The police officer no 1 said he was letting me go because of how traumatized my son was. Till today my 4-year-old son is still describing what happened to me and he touches my face and asks me if I feel okay,” he narrated.
Ukazu insisted that the police officers have no business in the Nigeria Police Force for violating his fundamental human rights and holding him hostage.
“I need justice. I used a special software and app to record the video I forwarded to RULAAC, after they deleted it permanently from my phone,” he said.
Meanwhile, following an official complaint to RULAAC, the group forwarded it alongside an incriminating video to the Imo State Police Commissioner, CP Danjuma.
According to Okechukwu Nwanguma, the Imo CP had promptly acknowledged the complaint, expressed sadness about it, and promised to take action.
“The CP asked that the complainant should see him in h
is office on Wednesday. Unfortunately, he’s in Lagos.
“This morning, the AC X Squad, Imo State Police Command, on the directives of the CP, called and informed me that the officers had been identified and were before the CP.
“He wanted the complainant to come and identify the officers. He’s still in Lagos. But we gave him the AC’s number to call him.
“Kudos to the CP Imo State Police Command.
“He truly does not condone indiscipline, corruption, and misconduct in Imo State.
“On two occasions that we are aware of, he has made officers who extorted bribes from innocent people arrested by corrupt officers to refund the bribes they extorted.
“We sincerely commend the CP for his professional and exemplary leadership as CP Imo,” Nwanguma concluded.
