How police officer made me crawl on Lagos road naked – Victim

A victim of police abuse of power in Lagos has narrated his sad experience with an officer of the Nigerian Police Force in Lagos.

Monday Ojon narrated how a police officer brutalised him and made him crawl on all fours, naked at the busy CMS area of Lagos.

The petitioner, who appeared before the Lagos judicial panel, on Tuesday, said he encountered the police officer, ‘Mr Kabiru,’ on December 4, 2013. He said the incident happened at about 10 p.m.

“On that day, I was walking down to Tinubu Square and I saw an officer approaching with a stick in his hand and gun in another hand.

“As we met, he asked me where I was going, I told him I was going to Tinubu square. He said I should kneel and I asked for what.”

He said he refused to kneel and that the officer started beating him with the stick on his hand.

“Until he beat me with the stick and the stick got broken on my head. He said he will not stop until I kneel. He saw another plank, he picked it and continued hitting me on my head, until I knelt down.

“He said I should remove my clothes. I started shouting, people were coming, he used his gun to chase a security guy away. He said he will waste me, he cocked the gun.

“He said I should remove my clothes and be the way my mother born me. I did because he already cocked the gun. He said I should start crawling,” the petitioner narrated.

The petitioner said the officer, with tag number 354962, ordered him to start crawling from the street he was to Marina road, on Lagos Island.

Mr Ojon said as he was crawling, the officer ordered people that were passing to kneel and crawl with him, but he was the only one that was naked.

Attempts by passersby and drivers to intervene were unsuccessful as the officer scared them away with his gun, the victim narrated.

Mr Ojon said a friend, who rides a tricycle on the axis, saw him among the crowd and approached the police officer to know what happened, but he was also chased away.

The petitioner further narrated that his friend alerted the police nearby and mobile police arrived shortly to talk to the officer, Mr Kabiru.

He said blood was gushing out from different parts of his body at that time because he had been battered by the officer.

“A patrol van later came with officers from Lion Building, including the DPO. They asked me questions, they took me to the station in their van and asked him to write a statement,” he told the panel.

He added that he was issued a police medical paper to enable treat his injuries at a General Hospital.

Mr Ojon said all efforts to get a disciplinary action instituted against Mr Kabiru failed as the police took no action.

He said he had a meeting with the provost of Zone 2, Onikan over the matter, went to Human Rights Groups, but the police did not respond.

Stating his demands before the panel, Mr Ojon said he wants a disciplinary measure to be taken against officer Kabiru. He also asked to be compensated with a sum of N10 million.

Doris Okuwobi, a retired judge heading the panel, adjourned the matter till April 17 for further hearing.