THE Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has condemned the assault of a yet to be identified man by some police officers in a viral video.
The Force Public Relations Officer CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, reacted to the video in a post on his Twitter handle on Monday, April 10.
In a viral video on the social media, some police officers beat and harassed a man in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Reacting to the incident, Adejobi wrote: “Quite unfortunate. I have asked the Rivers State Command to fish them out. This is unpolice, unethical, and condemned.
“Whatever the man must have done, he doesn’t deserve this beating. Beating him like a baby?? A grown-up man?. We will surely get the men.”
This was not the first time Nigerian policemen would be harassing civilians.
The ICIR had done a series of reports about Police officers manhandling and harrassing citizens.
In a special report published by this platform in October 2022, citizens narrated their plights with police officers, noting that the incessant extortion has frustrated many start-up businesses.
One of the victims, David Chukwu, who spoke to The ICIR, said a team of policemen stopped him and others on his way to Anambra and bundled them into a car before proceeding to beat them up.
“They kept hitting me and asking how many banks I was using, dialing bank codes on my phone to confirm. They eventually found out that I had an Access bank app and asked me to open it,” he said.
He told The ICIR that he had N30,000 in the account, a financial status which enraged one of the officers who started hitting him afresh.
Chukwu would later borrow N480,000 from a friend when he could not tolerate the pressure again.
“I repaid the N480,000 with some money I had saved for my shop rent. My rent was N450,000 and it was due that same month. It was a trying time for me and the business,” Chukwu said.
In another report, The ICIR detailed how Police brutality, extortion and harassment have continued two years after the #EndSARS protests.
Several victims who spoke to The ICIR in that report, narrated how they were beaten, harassed and extorted by Nigerian policemen.
Many of the victims confirmed that the first thing the police officers did when they stopped them was to collect their phones and check their credit balance and crypto account, after which the cops resorted to withdrawing money from their bank accounts using POS machines.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M