It was a shocking Tuesday for the family of Mr. Chidi Ugochukwu Ugwuzor, when men of the Nigerian Police force stormed his neighbourhood in Urratta area of aba, brutalized him and bundled him to their station along with others within their neighbourhood without explaining to them what their offences were.
Narrating his ordeal to The News Gazette Online from his hospital bed Mr. Chidi Ugochukwu Ugwuzor, a director in the Abia state civil service who is at the moment getting medical attention at the Aba general hospital as a result of the injuries he sustained while being pummelled by the police, said, he was relaxing in front of his building around 6pm on Tuesday, the 26th of January 2020, when men dressed in police uniform stormed their neighbourhood and began to arrest people randomly without explanation, he said some policemen approached him where he was casually relaxing in front of his building and began to drag him without explanation, he demanded to know who they were, his offence and why he is being arrested?
Mr. Ugwuzor who was in pains with bruises all over his body as at the time of speaking with our correspondent said, rather than explain or identify themselves they got angry and over 6 policemen began to deal him heavy blows at the same time with all manner of objects including the butt of their gun even after identifying himself as a director in a state government ministry and not a criminal, according to Mr. Ugwuzor, every attempt made by members of his family to plead with the policemen to let him go after identifying himself proved abortive as the policemen were determined to randomly arrest everybody seen within the area.
He said they were later taken to Eziama police station in Aba North and locked up without any one explaining to them what their offences were.
Mr. Ugwuzor stated that he is talking to his lawyers and might press charges against the Nigerian police and went further to say that it took the intervention of the commissioner of police and other respected individuals to let him go at the early hours of Wednesday, while other innocent people are still in their custody, he wondered why police will indulge in such a crude and irresponsible manner of arresting people even after the #Endsars protest.
He called on civil rights groups to come to the rescue of those abandoned in the police cell as most of them are innocent and may not have the contacts to get themselves out of the police cell without the police extorting money from them.
All attempts made by the News Gazette Online to speak with police operatives at Eziama police station proved abortive as they were unwilling to speak with us or direct us to some one that we can talk to, but a police man who spoke with us on condition of anonymity said, the area is a black spot and that the police is trying to unravel a crime committed within that neighbourhood hence the reason for the random arrest.
Culled from News Gazette Online
