A 70-year-old man, Chief Clement Garuba, has accused the police of turning his life to hell on earth when they fired teargas into his eyes, leaving him blind.
He laid the accusation while appearing before the Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Police Brutality on Friday.
Garuba identified himself as the fifth-ranking chief in the palace of Oba Abiodun Agbaje of Ekpesa Community, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State.
The septuagenarian alleged that they were having a village meeting when a police team stormed the scene and fired teargas into their midst.
Since the incident, he said, he has been unable to go to the farm to feed his family because he no longer sees.
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Garuba said, “When we were discussing village matter, with the youths and elders, suddenly, the police just came into the meeting, shot teargas into my eyes. “The police did not only teargassed me, they took me and my fellow chiefs to the station and detained us for three days.
“Before the incident, I was seeing with my two eyes, going to the farm and taking care of my nine children and my wife but now, I can’t. I am suffering deeply.
“The farm I cultivated before the police blinded my eyes with their teargas, I couldn’t harvest them, they were left at the mercies of thieves.”
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The septuagenarian said he appeared before the panel to seek compensation, urging the panel to invite the policemen who made him go blind to appear before it.