Lawrence Oludayo Ayanpeju, a Lagosian will never forget yesterday’s Valentine Day as he lost a tooth, and suffered physical and emotional duress and injuries due to a severe beating inflicted upon him by Nigerian policemen.
Saturday Independent reports:
The incident, which occurred at the Agidingbi end of Wempco Road in Ogba, Lagos, brought to fore the much-talked brutality of citizens by police officers.
Ayanpeju, a mechanical engineer and former staff of Mikano Nigeria Limited, was left physically and emotionally battered after men from Area F Division, Ojodu left him a tooth less than the number he had, when he left home in the morning.
Aside losing a tooth, the man’s T-Shirt was in shreds as it was torn by the Policemen, while he was being assaulted. The Policemen, who drove to the scene in a patrol van with registration number KJA 284 AX, threw caution the winds.
“I was about driving into Wempco road and had gotten to the middle of the Road before LASTMA officials stopped me. Having got to a point where I couldn’t see the traffic light anymore, I was surprised but just as I was explaining to them, four policemen emerged from the other side, threatening to shoot at my tyres.
“As one of them, Eneje Festus, the inspector, was moving back bit by bit as I tried to park, a stone behind tripped him and he fell backward but the policemen rushed at me, saying I hit him with my car. Hitting me with the butt of their guns, slapping me and raining blows on me, they four battered me and forced a tooth out in the process. See how I look now,” Ayanpeju bewailed amidst tears.
“When I picked up the phone to make a call, they seized it from me and also snatched my wristwatch,” he added.
When Saturday Independent got to the scene of the incident, shocked eye witnesses stood in groups, discussing the manner in which the man was needlessly assaulted. His car, a silver-coloured Toyota Camry with Lagos registration numbers – FST 556 CF – was still on the road with its front tyre deflated but the police van was nowhere in sight.
Some of the eye witnesses, who corroborated Ayanpeju’s account, lamented the assault, saying the man did nothing wrong.
“A woman who spoke in pidgin English, without giving her name, said “if the man hit the police with motor, the policeman no go fit stand here dey talk. Na lie, na this big stone fall am as he no look him back but dey move back as he dey stop the motor.”
Not done, the policemen soon resurfaced with a vulcaniser who fixed the deflated tyre, with Inspector Festus threatening to further deal with Ayanpeju no matter who he is or who he knows.
But once back on the scene, another angle crept into the story after Festus discovered the trigger of his rifle had become damaged due using it to support himself as he fell. He said Ayanpeju destroyed his gun and will suffer for it as they head to the Area F Ojodu Police Station at the popular Grammar School bus stop.
One of the LASTMA officials, Ayoade O, who spoke to Saturday Independent, said the matter had nothing to do with them although he looked shaken by the incident.