By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Anambra State Government has on Wednesday promised to punish erring operatives of the Special Anambra Anti-Touting Squad (SASA) for erring in the course of their duty.

The squad had on Tuesday manhandled one Wilfred Ezike a.k.a Mgbilimgba in Onitsha, Anambra State on Tuesday over an undisclosed offence.

A video that was circulated on social media on Tuesday showed the men, suspected to be anti-touting officials hitting Ezike with a short pestle while he was on the floor pleading for mercy.

The video showed one of the Anti-Touts operatives in red T-shirt and cap hitting the victim with a short pestle on his legs, arms, palm of his feet and ankles as he continued to plead, saying: “My in-law, pls have mercy. Wait, let me explain first.”

But the operative repeatedly hit him with the pestle while his colleagues were making the video, as the victim was rolling on the ground, helplessly.

While pleading for mercy, they asked him where his wife was and he said at home and urged them to tamper justice with mercy, saying that his wife is pregnant and that he doesn’t want to die without seeing his child.

Responding, the anti-tout operatives told him that they wanted him dead, adding that they had not come there to joke with him.

The operatives were also overheard querying him about a fee allegedly collected by the victim’s brother at Niger Street, Onitsha, which they said was being remitted to him.

The video attracted wide condemnations across the state and the general public wondered why Anti-Tout operatives should take laws into their hands by subjecting someone to such inhumane treatment, instead of being handed over to the police for appropriate investigation and possible prosecution.

In his reaction on Wednesday in a statement, the Commissioner for Homeland Affairs, Chikodi Anarah, said: “We will punish erring SASA operatives.”

He added: “I have been alerted to a viral video on the arrest and manhandling of one Wilfred Ezike, also known as Mgbiligba, by SASA operatives. I really feel bad that an incident of that nature took place. I have felt bad all through the day since somebody posted the video to me.

“It is true that some people are unrepentantly committed to various criminalities on the basis of which innocent citizens remain in miserable conditions running their legitimate day to day life, but we must handle human beings according to prescriptions of the law, no matter their offence.

“Our Government is law abiding, and that is why we must fish out the SASA operatives involved in the incident under reference and punish them accordingly.

“It is also true that we are resolute to stamp out ‘agberos’ but that must happen within confines of the laws of the land. Interestingly, people have been commenting and reacting. This shows life in an organised democracy.

“Some of them allege various levels of atrocities committed by Wilfred Ezike for which he ought to have been more severely manhandled and brought to book while counter narratives insist that he should not be manhandled at all. For me, and the Government of Anambra State, nothing justifies brutality, and that is why we will punish the erring operatives.

“According to records published in various platforms, Wilfred Ezike had been in and out of prison custody for alleged murder of innocent people while with his boys, extorting money from them. He is said to be a major kingpin of toutism in whose hands people have gone through hell.

“We were informed that there was widespread jubilation among Onitsha traders and ‘keke’ operators when they heard about his arrest. They alleged that he was dreaded, but that (if true) does not imply that SASA should not follow the law in dealing with him.

“Other comments are that SASA operatives may have been enraged because, according to them, he wrote a petition against them falsely alleging that they killed somebody along Niger Street, Onitsha.

“SASA was further quoted as saying that he did that to commence his effort to cripple its job so as to continue his unholy business. Police investigation is said to support SASA’s position that the petition was unfounded.”

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