A civil rights group, Rule of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), has petitioned the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Jane Agbede, asking her to do something about the increased excesses of the police in the state.

The petition, signed by Okechukwu Nwanguma, RULAAC Executive Director; Onyinyechi Nwosu, Executive Director, Vivacious Development Initiative (VIDI); and Mr. Chidi Nwachukwu, listed some of the case studies for the CP’s attention.

The group said: “We are seriously concerned by consistent reports we have continued to receive concerning rampant incidents of harassment, intimidation and extortion of residents of Abia state.”

It mentioned specifically Ndiegoro Police Station which it said “consistently stands out and features regularly in all the monthly reports and complaints we have received since May up to September from both our Abia State Monitors and from other organisations and victims which indicate that some personnel attached to the station are notorious for oppressive, unprofessional and corrupt conducts.

“For example, in August, RULAAC received a complaint from an Abia State-based human rights organization, Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society (CEHRAWS).

“We reproduce excerpts from the complaint: ‘We humbly wish to draw your attention to the plight of Mr. JudeEke Chukwu, a law abiding and responsible citizen of Abia State resident in Aba, a voluntary member of CEHRAWS and a tricycle operator with all the required tricycle operational documents intact and up-to-date.

“Mr. Chukwu is a married man with children who unfortunately got into transportation business due to the collapse of his textile business and the need to sustain his family. He has always ensured the regular update of his vehicular documents. This has informed his decision to resist all corrupt practices, especially monetary extortion by the police and other law enforcement agencies.

“Unfortunately, the aforesaid team of police officers from Ndiegoro Police Station in Aba South Local Government Area marked him out as a stubborn tricycle operator, and have continuously tormented and intimidated him over his (alleged) stubbornness.

“Sometime in November 2019, the said team stopped him at their usual road block, discharged his passengers and had histricycle impounded for refusing to part with the ‘normal’fifty naira (N50) ‘donation’ which they daily extort from operators plying the Etche Road end (Ukwu Mango) to Aba Main Park.

“His visit to the aforesaid police station in company of a staff of our organization to negotiate the release of his tricycle got the Police Station Officer (SO) in the person of Inspt. Ike Otuonye, requesting for the sum of N20,000 before he could listen to our staff or permit the release of the tricycle.

“His unethical behaviour was later reported to the DCO1 office by our staff. When summoned, the SO got infuriated. The SO claimed before the DCO1 that Mr. Chukwu fought his men and immediately dragged Mr. Jude out of the DCO1’s office, got him undressed and kept behind the counter.

“However, out of professionalism, the DCO1 summoned the notorious patrol team who brought the tricycle to the station before our staff and inquired from them of what transpired. The DCO1 thereafter ordered for the immediate release of Mr. Chukwu and his tricycle. He further appealed to our staff to let sleeping dog lie.

“Again, on Friday, August 14, 2020, the same patrol team now being headed by one Inspt. Philip, stopped Mr. Chukwu while on duty with passengers, ordered the passengers out of the tricycle, took the tricycle key and instructed that he gets N50,000 to them at the police station before he could have his tricycle released to him.

“According to them, the sum being requested from him is the sum total of the daily N50 ‘settlement’ which was left unpaid from last year till date. Mr. Chukwu has been constantly denied access to the said station in order to meet with either the DCO1 or the DPO to negotiate for the release of his tricycle. On the same day his tricycle was seized (14-08-2020) he visited but was denied access when the officers learnt that the amount he had on him was not up to the requested amount.

“The same inhuman behaviour was also meted out on him on the second day, Saturday, August 15, 2020. In the morning hours of Monday, August 17, 2020, Mr. Chukwu met Inspt. Philip at their usual Etche Road check point.

“Mr. Chukwu’s plea to Inspt. Philip for the release of his tricycle met with serious threat to his life. Unethically, Inspt. Philip pointed his gun at him with a warning not to provoke him by coming for that tricycle without the requested N50,000.00. Threatening further, Inspt. Philip said, ‘If you try anything funny, I will send you to your ancestors and nothing will happen.’

“Upon receiving this complaint, RULAAC drew the attention of the Abia State Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, to it, particularly registering our concern that ‘there are many such complaints against Ndiegoro Police Station. The Command needs to do something to bring the notorious station under control’.

“We are happy to note that the PPRO promptly intervened and reported back that the matter has been resolved, tricycle released and Mr. Chukwu compensated for the days the tricycle was impounded.

“This was confirmed by the human rights group that brought the complaint to our attention,” the petition noted

Commenting further, RULAAC wrote: “Again, this month, we have received, yet another troubling report containing specific cases of abuse and corruption by specific officers. We are concerned again by the concluding remark in the report that ‘Ndiegoro is the most notorious station in Abia.’

“We reproduce in the schedule hereunder the report and urge you to order a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation into the cases both in Ndiegoro and other police stations mentioned, but in general, to undertake an overhaul and sanitization of Ndiegoro Police Station to ensure that they don't continue to perpetuate negative public perception of the Abia State Command and the Nigeria Police in general,” the petition added.

RULAAC told the CP in the petition that it was available, with its Abia State Monitors, to meet with him to further discuss these cases.