Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Police attack, brutalise The Guardian’s correspondent in Bayelsa

By Julius Osahon, Yenegoa
10 February 2018   |   2:58 am
The Guardian’s correspondent in Bayelsa recently escaped death by the whiskers after he was assaulted and brutalised by a Police sergeant attached to the state security outfit, nicknamed ‘DOO AKPO’ at the Igbogene end of the Bayelsa gateway. The police sergeant, Idus Emmanuel, with DOO AKPO vehicle number 082, rained slaps, kicks and blows on…

Nigeria Police

The Guardian’s correspondent in Bayelsa recently escaped death by the whiskers after he was assaulted and brutalised by a Police sergeant attached to the state security outfit, nicknamed ‘DOO AKPO’ at the Igbogene end of the Bayelsa gateway.

The police sergeant, Idus Emmanuel, with DOO AKPO vehicle number 082, rained slaps, kicks and blows on the journalist, Julius Osahon, corking his service riffle and promising to ‘finish’ him.

Osahon, who was rushed to a private hospital and underwent treatment, has petitioned the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Boma Spero-Jack and the Bayelsa Commissioner of Police, urging them to bring the officer to book.

In the petition made available to newsmen in Yenagoa, Osahon narrated how he was molested and brutalized by the power drunk sergeant around 1:30 pm on Tuesday. “I was coming from Benin when the incident took place in the full glare of other passengers in a bus belonging to Sunny Eruru Motors, at Warri, Delta State.

The sergeant corked his service rifle and threatened to shoot me. He pointed the gun at me and ordered me to lie on the floor. I tried to find out why and he angrily barked that I was refusing a lawful order. It was at that point that he started slapping and hitting me. Till now, I am still nursing the injury he inflicted on my right ear at the hospital.”

“I still cannot fathom what warranted Sgt Emmanuel to batter or threaten to kill me because I never exchanged words with him or any member of the team.

“From observation, some passengers on the bus we were in, had a little friction with an NDLEA official and a policewoman, Eunice Omuero, over their molestation of a student of the Niger Delta University because he (student) was wearing an ear-ring. I only alighted from the bus to ask the officers what was happening and that they should allow the student go since they did not find anything incriminating on him.”

“When the bus was about to move, Sgt Emmanuel crossed over from the opposite checkpoint because he thought I was about to make a call and ordered me to lie down.

“He corked his rifle and pointed it at me, saying he would kill me and nothing would happen. I tried to explain to him that I was not making any call, but he refused to listen and thereafter, slapped me several times. I was humiliated like a common criminal. The other passengers were shocked and started a mini protest. Seeing this, Sgt Emmanuel and his cohort ordered all of us to get back into our bus at gunpoint.”

He called on the state government and the police commissioner to give him justice and ensure that nobody has to endure such again.

0 Comments