Just ln:POLICE ALLEGEDLY ASSAULT, ILLEGALLY DETAINED NSCDC OFFICIAL IN CELL
A disturbing incident of bárbar!ç police brútál!ty occurred on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at Elizabeth Estate in Osogbo, Osun State, when a group of individuals claiming to be police officers in “ANKARA ” cloth with only jacket on top, drove reckl*sly into the estate with a private sienna vehicle, entered the estate, which is secured by the personnel of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Osun State Command, to purportedly arr*st a susp*ct.
The personnel of NSCDC on duty, as trained officers, requested for means of identification which the individuals who claimed to be policemen failed to provide. Instead they resorted to int!m!dations . After their failúre to identify themselves they left the premises of the estate.
The situation escalated the following day, Wednesday, October 23, 2024, when a group of police numbering about twenty(20) drove into the estate and descended on one NSCDC personnel, physically assàult!ng him and infl!çting grev!0us bodily h@rm on him.
The officer’s uniform was t0rn, he was brutal!iz*d beyond description, disarmed, handcuffed like a common criminal, and forcefully taken to Ataoja Division before being moved to the Police State Headquarters.
Efforts to resolve the issue amicably were made by the Commandant of NSCDC, Osun State command, Dr. Michael Adaralewa, who raised a team of senior officers, who visited the Police Headquarters. However, the police refused to release the detained NSCDC personnel. They concocted unfounded lies of deflation of their vehicle tyres. When the team asked if the same vehicle was still at the scene, they said no, then the questions we asked if any vulcanizer fix the tyres. “No” was the demanded if the vehicle was towed. The answer was also negative. The big question then is how did the vehicle that conveyed the policemen leave the incident scene?
Unfortunately, despite assurances by the police team that immediately NSCDC confirmed the identity of the officer in their custody, he would be released, a confirmation letter was taken to police state headquarters, yet they never released him since Wednesday 23rd October, 2024. He was just released this afternoon, today Friday, 25th, after he had been made to undergo more humiliating treatment in the hands of policemen on duty.
The Osun NSCDC boss, Michael Adaralewa, therefore, calls for thorough investigation into the matter and bring perpetrators to book. “We demand there should be no sacred cow in the matter, and we are not going to allow the matter to be swept under the rug”
Signed
ASC Kehinde Adeleke
CDPRO
Osun State command.
