A consortium of Enugu-based legal practitioners has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, over alleged assault on their colleague, Nwanneka Agwu.
According to them, Agwu was beaten to pulp by a group of police officers at a checkpoint in Trans-Ekulu axis of Enugu State capital, for no just cause. The lawyers said that they were more annoyed that further to the thorough beating of Agwu and his subsequent incarceration in police cell, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the station, demanded for N40,000 and allegedly collected the sum of N11,000 for bail before Agwu was set free the following day.
In seeking reprieve, the lawyers who copied the petition to the Police Service Commission (PSC) indicated their resolve to present the human rights abuse before a court of jurisdiction.
Narrating the ordeal in the petition which was also copied to two police committees of the National Assembly, Mr John Obini of Axnorby & Associates Chamber, described Agwu’s encounter with the police in Enugu under the command of Abdurrahman Ahmed as acts of grievous assault, brutally, criminal extortion and abuse of office.
Obini in the petition dated October 6, 2020, said the tragic drama ensued on October 3, 2020, while Agwu was in a commercial tricycle, commonly called Keke.
According to him, the tricycle operator had stopped at a police checkpoint along Mission Road, Ugbodogwu, Enugu, where the police demanded the sum of N50.00 from him.
The Keke driver refused to bulge to the demand insisting that he just paid the same amount to other policemen who mounted a roadblock at Tanker Park Road, Trans Ekulu, Enugu.
While they were there, a bus allegedly rammed into the stationary Keke.