Some officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) brutalised an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) attached to the Elizabeth Housing Estate, Osogbo, Osun State, on Wednesday.

A source familiar with the incident told FIJ that the NSCDC officer identified as Owoeye was attached to the estate located at Oranmiyan New Town, Abeere, to provide security protection to the estate residents.

On Tuesday night, the police team went to the estate to arrest some residents. But Owoeye requested them to produce an arrest warrant. Because of this request, the police team left the estate.

READ ALSO: Lagos Police Abduct Shop Owner, Negotiate N200,000 Ransom for His Release

In this video, Oderinwale Elisha Akinyemi, the lawmaker representing Ayedire Local Government at the Osun State House of Assembly, at the scene, appeals to the police officers “to listen to my own advice”.

The following day, the policemen returned to the estate with an arrest warrant and met Owoeye again. The NSCDC officer told the policemen to allow him to speak with his superior before allowing them to enter the estate.

According to the source, the police became infuriated by Owoeye’s decision to speak with his superior before they could go into the estate and make an arrest.

On the purpose of the arrest, the source said that the residents the police intended to arrest had made out with some sex workers in Osogbo some days prior.

After making out, the men failed to pay those sex workers. This prompted the sex workers to report to the police. Based on this report, the police traced the suspected offenders to the estate to arrest them.

A full view of the scene after Owoeye had been beaten.

Videos of the scene obtained by FIJ showed Owoeye, holding a rifle, being attacked and beaten by a yet-to-be-identified policeman at the gate.

Wearing a police vest on a mufti, the unidentified policeman pinned the helpless Owoeye to a fence beside an electricity transformer, slapping him on his face and brutalising him while other officers struggled to separate them.

A resident of the estate spoke in one of the videos while blood gushed out from the back of his head as a result of an injury he sustained from the police beating. According to him, he was beaten because he asked his “boy” to record the scuffle.

“I was coming from the estate. I am one of the residents here. When I came to the entrance, I saw that they [the police] are harassing the NSCDC officer at the entrance; I mean the security officer mounted at our estate gate,” the male resident explained.

“I did not even know what was happening. I just saw a police van that blocked the entrance of the estate. So, I told my boy to make a recording because I was seeing them harassing the civil defence officer.

“They put a handcuff on his hand. They wanted to drag him. But the estate management insisted that they should not arrest him. After some minutes, they reinforced, came in multiple and started beating up everybody in the estate.”

An injured estate resident narrating his experience.

In one of the videos, a masculine voice filming the fight could be heard saying, “Let them fight man-to-man. They were beating him; ten of them against one person.

“They handcuffed him, held his legs. Let them fight one-on-one. They were beating him. They handcuffed him, held his legs and held his rifle. They were just intimidating him because they are many.”

FIJ could not hear Adeleke Kehinde, the spokesperson of the Osun State NSCDC Command, clearly when first contacted for comment due to poor network reception on Friday.

Kehinde did not respond to further calls. She had also not responded to FIJ’s text messages at press time.

OWOEYE DETAINED BY POLICE

FIJ’s source said that Owoeye had been in detention at the police headquarters in Osogbo since Wednesday.

When contacted, Yemisi Opalola, the spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, confirmed the event.

Opalola said one NSCDC officer arrested from the estate was indeed in their custody.

READ ALSO: DSS Abduct OrderPaper Staff Edna Ulaeto After Senate Invasion Report

When responding to FIJ’s inquiry about the matter, Opalola initially said the policemen only arrested the NSCDC officer after they were prevented from doing their job.

When presented with the videos included in this story, Opalola said she could have been given the wrong narration of the event and was shocked to see the violent scene.

She then said she had forwarded all the videos to “the CP [commissioner of police] and, once he comes to the office, the matter will be properly investigated and the officers will be disciplined accordingly if they were the wrong party”.