Francisca Adaobi (not real name) and her son were heading to All Saints Cathedral, Awka Road, Anambra State, on the morning of September 24 when a task force team stopped them and assaulted her until she bled.

Her son, who wishes not to be named for safety reasons, told FIJ that he was at the scene and confirmed a member of the Solution Team Task Force brutalised his mother.

According to him, the task force team also stole N300,000 and asked for a bribe before absconding.

“We left home around 9:50 am on Saturday, September 24th, headed to the church, All Saints Cathedral, on Awka Road. So, from the expressway, there was traffic congestion and people were going on their way. We also passed about two police checkpoints before we diverted into the street,” Adaobi’s son narrated.

“On our way, we reached a restaurant called 5 Star, members of the taskforce accosted us inside a white minibus. There were about six or seven of them. They had thrown some tyres on the road to prevent us from moving forward. But other people were driving past us and they (the task force) allowed them.”

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The task force team told Adaobi and her son that they were violating the environmental sanitation curfew.

On designated Saturdays, the state government restricts Anambra residents from moving on the roads till 10 am. This curfew ensures people stay at home and observe a mandatory environmental sanitation exercise.

The task force team claimed that Adaobi and her son broke the curfew, but, according to her son, the same team allowed other motorists to move around them.

“Vehicles were passing, so I don’t know how it was only us that were violating the sanitation law. When this commotion was happening, about three or four of them jumped into our vehicle. I had about N300,000 cash with me inside the car. That money was stolen in the process,” said Adaobi’s son.

“Someone also took my phone, which I later saw with one of them. I had to fight that person to recover my phone immediately. But we did not realise the money was missing until we started searching for it. We searched and found out that our money was missing. N300,000!”

“According to them, they were sent on the job by the governor. When all this was going on, they started asking us for money. They wanted N20,000 as a bribe so that they would let us go. We refused to give them the money and they started struggling with us. They asked us to follow them, but they did not tell us where we were going to.”

Adaobi and her son refused to follow the task force officials. According to the son, it all seemed they were up to something and he was not ready to go to an unspecified location.

The struggle to take over the vehicle from its owners led to damages on the car and grievous bodily harm on Adaobi. FIJ obtained pictures and footage which showed Adaobi’s bloodied hands.

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“They tried to get the keys of the vehicle and ensure that they did some damage to the vehicle. Immediately they assaulted her, they disappeared,” Adaobi’s son told FIJ. He also told FIJ that the team, armed with sticks, was led by one Chukwudi, also known as Omaliko.

Adaobi’s children went to Central Police Station, Onitsha, to report the assault. They wrote and submitted a statement, but a policewoman asked them to pay N20,000 before the police would take up the case.

FIJ contacted Remi Adeoye, Onitsha Divisional Crime Officer, and he said that he would contact the Divisional Police Officer (DPO). Adeoye claimed that the DPO would never ask for money before working on a case.

“I will get across to the DPO. The DPO will never ask them for money. Let them go to the DPO and complain that they were asked to bring money,” Adeoye told FIJ.