A commercial vehicle driver identified simply as Lucky has disclosed how a police team forcefully removed a 32-year-old widow from his Toyota Sienna vehicle for failing to use a face mask in Rivers State.
The widow, who has not been named, is accusing a member of the team, Peter Ebah of raping her at gunpoint last Tuesday.
The policeman has been arrested and detained over the incident.
The Nation quoted the driver as saying that the police team insisted on arresting the widow and threatened to shoot his vehicle’s tyres if he continued to plead on her behalf.
Explaining how it happened, the driver said, “That day around 6pm, I loaded from Bori, reaching Saakpenwaa junction, about three policemen stopped us and checked if we were all using our nose masks.
Read Also: Why we’re backing Obaseki – Ize-Iyamu’s family speaks
“But that lady was not putting on any nose mask, so I immediately gave her one extra nose mask in my vehicle.
“The moment she wore it, the police insisted that since they had already arrested her, even if everyone in the vehicle gave the woman their extra nose masks, they would still arrest her. Everyone in the vehicle started begging the officers to let the woman continue the journey with us because it was getting dark, almost 7pm, but the police refused, rather they threatened to burst our four tyres if we didn’t stop begging and leave immediately, so I carried the rest of the passengers and left.”
However, Ebah has denied raping the woman, saying he gave her N4,000 after they had consensual sex.
The state police command has said that investigations would continue into the incident.