Elimihe
Another case of police brutality was recorded in Lagos yesterday as policemen from Onipanu Division of Lagos State command beat to stupour a lawyer, 42-year-old Sunday Elimihe, and strip him of his N150,000 in his car pidgin hole.
One of the lawyer’s eyes has been blinded following the hard beating he received from the policemen, who he alleged were drunk as at the time they stopped him in front of the Onipanu Police station.
Elimihe, while narrating the incident to newsmen at the Shomolu General Hospital, said: “On my way from Lekki where I went to check a property with my client, I decided to use the Onipanu police station road by Apata. Immediately I drove into the street close to the station, one Corporal Alonge stopped me and demanded for my vehicle particulars. I gave him; he demanded for Driver’s License, I gave him. When he discovered I did not commit any offence, he asked for my tinted glass permit, which I gave him.
“He told me I was using a forged tinted glass permit. I told him I could not have forged a police document as a lawyer. He became furious and stated he was going to arrest me. He jumped into my vehicle and insisted I must give him N1, 000 to bail myself. I stated I was not going to give him any money since I have not committed any offence.”
As stated by the father of three, “he pounced on me and cocked his gun threatening to shoot me if I make a move. Another policewoman who sighted us came and dragged the gun from him. The policeman after being disarmed descended on me and gave me the beating of my life. He pushed me into the cell and another policeman came inside the cell, locked up the cell and beat me for 30 minutes.
“I was humiliated like a common criminal. This is oppression and one of my eyes is partially blind. I have been vomiting blood since yesterday. It was the intervention of a good policeman in the station who warned them not to kill me. I would have been dead by now.”
He urged President Muhamadu Buhari and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to come to the aid of innocent Nigerians, who are daily being brutalized by policemen in the country.
It would be recalled that on Boxing Day last December in Ketu, a drunken policeman, identified as Stephen James, reportedly shot and killed three people, Taiwo and Kehinde Oyesunle, with their friend simply called Jeje, before turning the gun on himself.
Guardian