Doctors at a teaching hospital are currently battling to save the eyesight of a man battered by police officers.
Stephen Akams, a Lagos State
based interior designer, has blamed men of the Nigeria Police Force for
damaging his left eye and fears he may not be able to use the eye again
after they beat him up because the vehicle he was in tried to overtake that of the police officers.
based interior designer, has blamed men of the Nigeria Police Force for
damaging his left eye and fears he may not be able to use the eye again
after they beat him up because the vehicle he was in tried to overtake that of the police officers.
The
41-year-old Akams, who is on admission at the University of Benin
Teaching Hospital, Edo State, stated that he is waiting for medical
results to determine if he can still use the eye after the officers,
numbering about seven, battered him on Thursday, March 24, along the Benin By-pass while he was returning from an assignment in Enugu State.
Read: “Police Brutality: The IGP must see this! [Video]”
According
to the victim, there were four policemen in a vehicle ahead of the car
conveying him while three others were in another vehicle coming behind
his.
He said that the police van was in the middle of the road,
moving at a slow speed when the driver of the car he had hired signalled
to overtake it by blowing the horn but the policemen refused to give
way.
Read: “Wickedness: Policeman brutalizes man, wife in Lagos”
The injured Akams went further:
“Our
driver was driving at a speed limit of about 70 kilometres per hour,
but the police vehicle was going slower in the middle of the road.
In
an effort to go past the vehicle, our driver sounded the horn, but the
driver, who eventually turns to be a policeman, started abusing us.
When
we managed to go past them, I signalled at the driver of the vehicle to
caution him. That was when they started chasing us and overtook us. One
of the guys at the back seat pulled a gun and threatened to shoot if we
didn’t stop.
We were not sure who they were, so we
decided to reverse and that was when we discovered that another white
vehicle was following us. They trapped us between them.
They
came down with their guns – about seven of them – and dragged me out of
the vehicle. They accused me of insulting police officers and beat me
up.
They bundled me into their vehicle and asked me to bring N100,000 for them to release me. I told them I didn’t have the money.
After
they had driven for about two miles with me in the boot, they parked
and brought me out and started beating me again. When one of them saw
the hand band my friend’s daughter made for me and another one I bought
in Ghana in 2012, they said I was a cultist.
I refuted
the claim and the beating continued. They brought handcuffs and
threatened to take me to the Department of Criminal Investigation. One
of them brought a fan belt and repeatedly hit me in the head.”
The
Delta State indigene said that the policemen fled the area after the
belt hit him in the eye and he became unconscious. He added that it was
the driver of the car he boarded that trailed him to the scene and took
him to the hospital.