Helen Abubakar, a 26-year-old nursing mother, was beaten and dragged on the floor by police officers attached to Nyanya Police Station, Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, at about 7pm on Friday, for asking to see the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the station.

Helen was at the police station to see her brother-in-law who was arrested and detained after he was caught with N1,000 notes some customers paid him with at the lounge where he worked.

Trouble began when Helen asked to speak with the DPO over the man’s continued detention after the real perpetrators of the crime had been found, arrested and released.

 “When I got to the police station, I asked what it would take to bail him, but they ignored me. Then I asked for the people that gave him the fake naira notes and learnt that they had been released. If the real perpetrators of the crime had been bailed why couldn’t we bail our own person?” she told FIJ.

“I asked if it was because the court was on strike, and then they became angry. They asked who I was to ask them to take a case to court. They said they wouldn’t even allow his bail anymore and asked if I knew the road to court. I said I would call a lawyer friend and then a police officer moved closer and started pushing me.  

“The DCO1 came and asked me to narrate what happened. While I was trying to explain to him, the other officers came and started harassing me verbally. So I told them I wanted to see the DPO. At that point the DCO1 whom I had thought was a responsible man pushed and hit me. The other officers then pounced on me and started beating me. When I pulled my hair from the DCO1’s hands, the beating increased. They asked who I was to say I wanted to see the DPO. A police woman joined them. She even bit me on the back.”

Helen said the beating and dragging was so much that she felt she was going to die. By the time they finished with her, she was already so weak. She landed at the Nyanya General Hospital, where she was treated that night.

Although the Public Complaints Unit of the Nigeria Police Force reached out to her after the story was shared on the social media, Helen said she was yet to get justice.

While speaking with FIJ on Sunday, she said police officers at the Nyanya Police Station falsely accused her of slapping a senior police officer and had refused to apologize to her for the assault.