Aina, 34, said that his encounter with the policemen on July 21, 2016, was an experience, he wouldn’t forget in a hurry. He was flogged by three policemen.
They flogged him with belt, broom and also repeatedly punched him. According to Aina, he was maltreated and bruised simply because he chastised a cab driver for breaking the traffic law.
When Aina boarded a cab, he didn’t know three of the passengers were policemen. They were all in mufti. When the driver of the cab got to where he was supposed to wait for the traffic light, he didn’t. Rather than wait patiently for the light to turn and signal his turn to drive, the driver just sped through. Aina knew that such move had repeatedly caused the accident of many vehicles, often leading to the death of innocent passengers. He chastised the driver, trying to point out the errors of his ways.
This apparently annoyed the policemen. One of them, demanded to know who Aina was, that he should boldly cautioned the cab driver. He threatened to ‘teach’ Aina a lesson he wouldn’t forget. Before Aina knew what was happening, the policeman gave him a blinding slap. He ordered the driver to drive into Moroko Police Station. It was there that Aina’s torture and trauma started.
Aina said: “ One sergeant Yinka told me to pay a fine, but I couldn’t because I had no money on me. I was stripped off my clothes, belt and forced to frog jump. I was repeatedly flogged. They removed and destroyed my belt. I was seriously bleeding. An unknown policeman recorded a video of me and my torture and threatened to post it on Facebook. I was also ordered to sweep the premises of the police station.” Like most people working on the Island, Aina used to leave home early.
On that fateful day, he found himself at the bus stop around 5am. The plan was to board a cab to his office, Osapa London. When he saw this particular cab, he jumped in.
The cab driver zoomed off. Aina recounted: “On getting to the traffic light at the end of Ajose Adeogun, moving to Ligali Ayorinde, the light was on red. But for just no reason, the driver drove against the traffic light. I challenged the driver. I asked him why he drove against traffic light.
The man sitting behind him, whom I later discovered is called Sergeant Innocent Ojobo, shouted at me. I was shocked. I didn’t know him. We’ve never met.
He asked me whom I was to rebuke the cab driver for breaking traffic light. He said he would punish me. He wasn’t even in uniform. I thought they were armed robbers. I didn’t know he was a policeman.” Aina continued his narration: “ Sergeant Innocent slapped me and threatened to detain me at the police station. He declined all pleas from both the cab driver and I. I didn’t even know why I was begging him.
But I begged him, so that he would allow the matter to go. “As we alighted at the station, Sergeant Innocent commanded the other two officers who were in the car with us-one Dagrin and a mobile policeman, to lead me into the police station. The Mopol and Dagrin led me to the station at gun point. Inside the station, we met Inspector Sunday, Sergeant Yinka and two other policemen. The Divisional Police Officer(DPO) told Inspector Sunday and the two policemen to explain what happened; Sergeant Innocent claimed I called them “Yeye.”
He further stated that he cried and pleading with them to stop flogging him, but they wouldn’t listen. He recollected asking the policemen if he had offended them in anyway, so that he could apologize. He just wanted the flogging to stop.
Aina said he spent a week at Meditop Hospital, Shagamu after the incident. After much degradation and maltreatment, Aina secured his freedom. He however knew that he had been unjustly ill-treated. He also knew he has a right. He sought the intervention of the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), a nongovernmental organization, acting as a watchdog over activities of the police. NOPRIN petitioned the DPO of the station.
The DPO would later call the three policemen to explain once again, drama that played out between them and Aina. Aina said: “ I was shocked when the DPO denied that the policemen punished me. He said it wasn’t at his station. My brother, Mr. Bola Adewale Adeoye, requested that the station should write an apology letter to me, but they refused. Since then, everything had been quiet on the matter.”
Aina said all he wants, is for Sergeant Innocent, Dagrin and their mobile police colleague to be probed and checked. He said if nothing was done to curb their excesses, they would mete out similar treatment on other Nigerians. Aina’s co-worker, who refused to give her name, said she remembered the day of the encounter vividly.
She said: “He was supposed to be at work around 7:30am on that fateful day, but he came too late, crying. He said policemen arrested and beat him mercilessly. He was even bleeding. I had to clean his blood.https://newtelegraphonline.com/policemen-stripped-flogged-driver/
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