DPO accused of torturing two men to death for stealing chickens

Juliana Francis

Nigerians have urged the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to investigate a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in Bauchi State for torturing two men to death for stealing seven chickens.

This was one of the security discussions that inflamed twitter at the weekend. It was however gathered that the incident had led to the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, setting up a panel of inquiry, which till date had not made its findings known to members of the public.

Bulama Bukarti@bulamabukarti, who tagged the Police Complaint Unit, said that he first heard about the incident on BBC Hausa.

Bukarti explained: “A DPO in Bauchi tortured two men to death and left the third with five fractures for allegedly stealing seven chickens. Here’s what happened according to the surviving victim; the victims were arrested for allegedly stealing seven chickens. The man they sold them to was summoned and ordered to pay N2,000 each for 13 chickens, instead of seven and he did. The suspects were ordered by the DPO to pay N4,000 and their parents paid a total of N12,000. The DPO told the parents to go, that he’d released the suspects later. He then ordered his officers to tie the suspects up. He told the suspects to be chanting ‘stealing has ended’ in Hausa and started beating them with a big stuff in their legs, heads, chests, all over their bodies. The first suspect died instantly. The second died for head and neck injuries in a hospital. The third is currently home nursing five fractures including two on the knees of each leg. The second suspect’s mother related to BBC Hausa how her son died tragically in the hospital. The Bauchi State Police Command said it’s set up a committee to investigate the matter but the DPO was not suspended, much less arrested. When pressed by BBC, the police spokesman said “You can’t arrest a senior policeman!”. The alleged torturer is still the DPO of the division. Incidents like this are all too common in Nigeria, as well as their sheer corruption, that police’s bad reputation in the eyes of Nigerians. I call on the @PoliceNG to take over this matter. The DPO must be investigated and prosecuted for culpable homicide in a transparent way.”

A twitter user, Abdul@abdulrahman_590, replying Bukarti, said: “I heard it in the morning. How this DPO takes law into his hands is unfortunate and unacceptable. He can't be a police and a judge at same time. May the souls of the departed ones rest in peace.”

The Police Complaint Unit @PoliceNG_CRU, responding to Bukarti, said: “Your complaint is hereby acknowledged and investigation has been initiated. Your tracking number is #CRU693790, Thank you for contacting NPF-CRU.”