The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase
has been urged to draft a team to investigate the shooting of a man by
policemen attached to the Okigwe Police Station.
This request was made by the Network on Police
Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN).
According to NOPRIN’s national coordinator,
Okechukwu Nwanguma, the perpetrators should be identified and brought to
justice.
The police were alleged to have shot the man because
he was gambling.
NOPRIN was informed that, on May 23, 2015, around 3.45pm, a team of armed men, in plain clothes and using an unmarked commercial bus, went to Nkwo Umunumo, Ehime Local Government Area, Mbano, Imo State, shot one Obinna Agugwogu on his left leg, at a new hospital construction site in Nkwoumunumo. Obinna is the security man working at the hospital construction site. The policemen were later discovered to have come from Okigwe Police Station.
Nwanguma said: “After shooting the victim, the armed policemen took him away in their unmarked bus without leaving any trace or information about their identities, where they came from and the reason for the attack. They took the bleeding victim to a private hospital called St Mary's Hospital and Maternity in Okigwe, Imo State located far away- over 28 kilometres from the scene of the shooting. The victim lost a lot of blood in the process and almost died but was revived at the Hospital where bullets were extracted from his leg and the wound stitched.”
Nwanguma further alleged that the victim was secretly kept in that hospital without being allowed to contact his family.
His family and other community members visited all Police stations within Ehime and Okigwe as well as offices of the National Drug Law enforcement agency (NDLEA) in search of the victim.
Two days later, the victim was brought back to his family by the police officers who did not charge him with any offence.
When the victim’s father later visited the Police to inquire about the offence his son may have committed, or the reason for the attack on him, the police simply made him to sign a bail bond for the release of his son. They also made him to refund the money they claimed they spent treating his son at the hospital which they said amounted to over N30, 000.00. No receipt was issued to him by the hospital or the police.
“In an attempt to shield the hospital, the hospital personnel refused to issue any receipt to the victim's father even when he demanded for receipt for additional payment of N1, 500.00 which he made when he took his son for a check-up and for the removal of the stitches and dressing of the wound on the 1st of June,” narrated Nwanguma.
The victim was also not issued with any hospital card or properly documented as a patient in the hospital. The Doctor told the victim's father that he would only give receipts for any payment for his treatment to the police who brought him to the hospital.
All efforts by the victim's father to get the details of those who brought his son to the hospital were rebuffed.
NOPRIN said that the
refusal by the Doctor to disclose to the victim’s father, the identities of the
police officers who brought his son to the hospital showed that the doctor was working
with the Okigwe Divisional police to cover criminal and illegal activities.NOPRIN was informed that, on May 23, 2015, around 3.45pm, a team of armed men, in plain clothes and using an unmarked commercial bus, went to Nkwo Umunumo, Ehime Local Government Area, Mbano, Imo State, shot one Obinna Agugwogu on his left leg, at a new hospital construction site in Nkwoumunumo. Obinna is the security man working at the hospital construction site. The policemen were later discovered to have come from Okigwe Police Station.
Nwanguma said: “After shooting the victim, the armed policemen took him away in their unmarked bus without leaving any trace or information about their identities, where they came from and the reason for the attack. They took the bleeding victim to a private hospital called St Mary's Hospital and Maternity in Okigwe, Imo State located far away- over 28 kilometres from the scene of the shooting. The victim lost a lot of blood in the process and almost died but was revived at the Hospital where bullets were extracted from his leg and the wound stitched.”
Nwanguma further alleged that the victim was secretly kept in that hospital without being allowed to contact his family.
His family and other community members visited all Police stations within Ehime and Okigwe as well as offices of the National Drug Law enforcement agency (NDLEA) in search of the victim.
Two days later, the victim was brought back to his family by the police officers who did not charge him with any offence.
When the victim’s father later visited the Police to inquire about the offence his son may have committed, or the reason for the attack on him, the police simply made him to sign a bail bond for the release of his son. They also made him to refund the money they claimed they spent treating his son at the hospital which they said amounted to over N30, 000.00. No receipt was issued to him by the hospital or the police.
“In an attempt to shield the hospital, the hospital personnel refused to issue any receipt to the victim's father even when he demanded for receipt for additional payment of N1, 500.00 which he made when he took his son for a check-up and for the removal of the stitches and dressing of the wound on the 1st of June,” narrated Nwanguma.
The victim was also not issued with any hospital card or properly documented as a patient in the hospital. The Doctor told the victim's father that he would only give receipts for any payment for his treatment to the police who brought him to the hospital.
All efforts by the victim's father to get the details of those who brought his son to the hospital were rebuffed.
According to the victim's father, when he visited Okigwe Police Division and inquired about the police officers who shot his son, a police man came up to say he is the Investigating Police Officer (IPO). The victim's father said that the yet-to-be identified IPO told him that his son was involved in gambling with others at the site and that when he saw them, he started running.
The IPO collected his details but refused to release his own identity, and promised that he would call him on his telephone number, a promise he is yet to fulfill till date.
Nwanguma said: “It took 11 days of efforts by an Owerri-based civil society organisation, CCIDESOR, led by Mr. Emeka Ononamadu to obtain the identity and contacts of both the DPO of Okigwe Division and the Doctor of the hospital where the victim was treated.
The identities of the policemen who carried out the illegal and criminal operation are still being shielded by the authorities at Okigwe Division. The name of the DPO of Okigwe Division is given as CSP Iwu Christian. The Doctor at Saint Mary’s Hospital Okigwe, who treated the victim and working in collusion with the police to hide their identities, is Dr. Akpan.
Nwanguma urged Arase to pay particular attention to the excesses and lawlessness of police officers serving in the Southeast Zone.
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