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Nigerian Police Officers

15.05.2022 Featured Uyo Resident Diagnosed With Hernia After Police Assault

Published 15th May, 2022

By Lolade Olu-Ojegbeje

A Twitter user simply identified as Chidera has narrated how he was diagnosed with hernia, a condition of the abdomen caused by a combination of muscular weakness and strain, after police officers assaulted him in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom, on Saturday.

In a Twitter thread on Sunday, Chidera stated that he was heading home from work when a police officer who had been following him stopped him. The officer asked what he had in his bag and when he confirmed that it was a laptop, he dragged him to a waiting vehicle.

“At about 7:45 pm, I was heading back home from work. Everything seemed to be normal until I got to the plaza (a very popular place in Uyo). I was heading towards Ikpa road where my house is located,” Chidera wrote on Twitter.

“My phone was in my pocket and I was holding my laptop bag very tight because I have had a lot of bad experiences with my phone and money at plaza. I felt someone was following me and felt I needed to walk faster so I can board a vehicle and leave.

READ ALSO: Kwara State Police Officers Detain Traveller, Extort N40,000 From Him

“Someone held my clothes from behind and I froze immediately. I looked back and it was an officer of the Nigeria Police. I felt a little relieved as I am a law abiding citizen and had my National ID card, voter ID and school ID all in my wallet, in case I needed identification.

“The police man asked what I had in my bag. I told him it was my laptop and he immediately held me by my collar and started dragging me to their vehicle.”

Chidera also said the officer assaulted him and accused him of being a criminal.

“I calmly asked him not to drag me or treat me like a criminal since I had not proven to be one. He slapped me on the road and was shouting that I was a criminal,” said Chidera.

He stated that other police officers joined in beating him when he refused to get into the waiting vehicle. The officers beat him and forced him into the vehicle.

“When we got to their vehicle, he asked me to get in but I refused. I told him he could check my laptop and phone without me being inside his vehicle as I felt safe outside, ” he said.

“This man and his colleagues, about four of them, including the driver, started hitting me repeatedly on my lower abdominal region and my balls till I tumbled over and they pushed me into their vehicle.”

READ ALSO: At Ilorin Divisional Police Station, Officers ‘Arrest Innocent Young People Every Day to Make Money’

The officers refused to allow him contact anyone but his mother. They freed him after he called his mother with a phone belonging to one of them.

“I was screaming and tried bringing out my phone to call my mum, but they refused and tried snatching my phone from me. When they saw I wasn’t going to stop kicking and shouting, one of them offered to call my family using his own phone. I gave him my mum’s number, and they called and told her they arrested me.

“But whatever she said to them scared them and made them drop me off in the middle of nowhere. I couldn’t walk and was in a lot of pains. [I also] had a very big swelling in my lower abdomen.”

READ ALSO: ‘A Perennial Extorter’ — More Revelations About Oyo Policeman ‘Idris’ Who Injured a Lady

Chidera said he had to take a ride to a hospital because he could not walk after the beating. At the hospital, the doctor told him he had a hernia, caused by the punches he received from the officers.

“I managed to book a ride out of there to a hospital where the doctor said I had a hernia, which was caused by the impact from the punches given to me by the officers. I’m home now. The doctor will be monitoring me closely in case of symptoms or signs.”

FIJ’s calls to Odiko Ogbeche-Macdon, Akwa-Ibom Sate’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), were not answered. A text message sent to his line had also not been responded to at press time.

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Published 15th May, 2022

By Lolade Olu-Ojegbeje

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