The Osun State Instructions of the Nigeria Safety and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Police Power disagreed on Friday following an assault suffered by NSCDC personnel whereas on guard responsibility, allegedly by the hands of some police operatives.
An NSCDC personnel, recognized merely as Owoeye, was stated to have been assaulted and, it was realized, was detained by the police after the incident, which occurred on Wednesday.
In some video clips that went viral on Friday, a person wearing Ankara print however sporting a jacket with the inscription ‘POLICE’ boldly written was seen assaulting NSCDC personnel.
Additionally, within the video, the NSCDC officer was slapped by a person sporting a police jacket, whereas the officer managed to disarm the assailant.
In one other video, NSCDC personnel had been seen holding the clothes of a person sporting a police jacket over an Ankara print on the chest area whereas folks within the neighborhood watched.
Background voices accompanying the video steered that many police operatives had assaulted NSCDC operatives on guard responsibility at Elizabeth Property.
In response to the video, Osun Command Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, acknowledged that the operatives concerned had been “policemen who got here from Oyo State on investigative actions to an property in Osogbo to arrest a suspected prison.
“They encountered Civil Defence personnel guarding the placement, who prevented them from making the arrest. Within the course of, they beat up and injured two law enforcement officials and deflated the tyres of their car.
“The policemen subsequently referred to as for reinforcements from the closest division. Upon the arrival of the reinforcements, the policemen had been rescued, and one of many Civil Defence personnel who assaulted the law enforcement officials and prevented them from performing their lawful responsibility was arrested and brought to the State CID for investigation.”
Nevertheless, whereas offering her account of what transpired between the operatives of the 2 organisations, the spokesperson of the NSCDC Osun Command, Kehinde Adeleke, defined that some people who had approached its operatives on guard responsibility on the property on Tuesday night had been in mufti and claimed to be police personnel.
Adeleke acknowledged that the NSCDC officer they encountered insisted that they supply additional technique of identification since they weren’t in uniform, which infuriated the police group.
Adeleke additional stated, “A disturbing incident of barbaric police brutality occurred on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, round 8 p.m., at Elizabeth Property in Osogbo, Osun State, when a bunch of people claiming to be law enforcement officials however sporting ‘ANKARA’ clothes with solely a jacket on high drove recklessly into the property with a non-public Sienna car. They entered the property, which is secured by personnel of the Nigeria Safety and Civil Defence Corps, Osun State Command, to purportedly arrest a suspect.
“The NSCDC personnel on responsibility, as educated officers, requested technique of identification, which the people who claimed to be policemen failed to offer. As an alternative, they resorted to intimidation and verbally assaulted the NSCDC personnel on responsibility, in addition to the Corps on the whole. After they didn’t determine themselves, they left the premises of the property.
“The scenario escalated the next day, Wednesday, October 23, 2024, when a bunch of law enforcement officials, numbering about 20, drove into the property and bodily assaulted one NSCDC officer, inflicting grievous bodily hurt on him.
“The officer’s uniform was torn; he was brutalised past description, disarmed, handcuffed like a typical prison, and forcefully taken to Ataoja Division earlier than being moved to the Police State Headquarters.
Efforts to resolve the problem amicably had been made by a group of senior NSCDC officers who visited the Police Headquarters. Nevertheless, the police refused to launch the detained NSCDC personnel, concocting unfounded allegations of deflation of their car tyres towards him.
“Sadly, regardless of assurances by the police group that the NSCDC officer of their custody could be launched instantly upon affirmation of his id, a affirmation letter was delivered to the police state headquarters, but they by no means launched him since Wednesday, October 23, 2024. He was solely launched this afternoon, Friday, October 25, after enduring additional humiliating remedy by the hands of the policemen on responsibility.”
Demanding an intensive investigation into the matter to deliver the perpetrators to justice, the Osun NSCDC Commandant, Dr Michael Adaralewa, vowed to not enable the problem to be swept underneath the rug.
