The Rivers State command of the Nigeria Police Force has arrested and detained one of its officer for beating a truck driver to death in the state.
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The truck driver identified as Cosmos Ozioko and his brother were reportedly assaulted and beaten to pulp by some policemen in Elele in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.
The event reportedly led to the death of Ozioko. The deceased’s family are said to have reported the incident, demanding justice for his death.
iBrandtv gathered that the officers involved were five in number. They are said to have intercepted a motorcycle, popularly known as Okada, conveying Cosmos and his brother, Kingsley, while the duo were returning to their workplace at about 7:40 pm on Sunday.
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Narrating the incident to newsmen earlier, Kingsley explained that their truck was parked near Reliable Farm, where they work, saying the cops literally stripped them in the name of searching even when nothing incriminating was found on them.
According to him, he and his brother were beaten to a pulp and that Cosmos passed out and eventually died.
“We took okada from the CPM roundabout going to Elele. When we got to the checkpoint, there were about five policemen. They started searching all over us. I was the first person that they searched. “They searched everywhere including my private parts but found nothing. They now searched my brother. They searched our private parts as if they gave us something to hold for them. In the process, his phone fell and scattered. “My brother asked them (policemen) to assemble his phone and give it to him. They didn’t answer him. I was the one that picked up the mobile telephone and put it the way it was. “To avoid trouble, I now beckoned my brother for us to leave. As we were leaving my brother asked the okada rider who had been waiting if that was how the policemen were searching everybody that passed. “The next thing, two of the policemen, rushed him, and another one pounced on me. They started beating us, marching us with their boots and using the butt of their guns to hit us. “They ordered us to sit on the ground and asked where we came from. We said Enugu State. ‘Where in Enugu?’ We replied Nsukka. They said okay, this thing you people are doing in the village you have brought it here. One of them used the butt of his gun to hit us, the other two used the boots they were wearing on us,” Kingsley said.
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He stressed that they were beaten seriously until his brother collapsed. He added: “I started calling him brother, brother. People brought pure water sachets, which I used on him. He was still breathing then but weak. So, I asked the okada man to buy me milk if it could help.” He further said before the okada rider returned, one of the policemen came with some drugs that he bought, adding that he asked the officer who prescribed the drugs. “I rushed my brother to a nearby hospital. A nurse there said they didn’t have oxygen, so we should take him to Madona Hospital still in Elele. When we got there, the doctor checked him and told me that my brother was dead. “Before I looked back, I only saw one policeman. The others have disappeared,” he said. Kingsley lamented the situation, demanding that the policemen that killed his brother be arrested and charged to court so that his spirit can rest. “My brother cannot die like that,” he said.
Kingsley further explained that the matter was reported to the police in Elele which subsequently transferred it to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the state command.
Responding to the development, the spokesperson of the Rivers State Police Command Grace Iringe Koko, told SaharaReporters on Wednesday that one of the officers involved has been arrested and detained. The police spokesperson affirmed that the case had been transferred to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
