Imo CP orders arrest of police officers who ‘assaulted nursing mother’

Aboki Danjuma, commissioner of police in Imo, has ordered the arrest of some police officers attached to the anti-kidnapping unit, for allegedly assaulting Ogechi Eze, a nursing mother, and her children.

In a trending video, Eze said last Friday, around 5 am, she heard loud bangs on the gate of her residence, and when she opened the gate, she saw some police officers attached to the Tiger Base in Imo state.

She added that while she was opening the gate, she noticed that some of the armed police officers were already inside the compound.

Eze said the police officers started assaulting her while asking for the whereabouts of her husband, who was not at home.

She added that the officers slapped her three times when she asked for the arrest warrant.

Eze said her grandmother, son, and daughter were also slapped by the police officers.

In a statement on Thursday, Henry Okoye, Imo police spokesperson, said Danjuma ordered that the officers involved be detained and sanctioned in line with the force’s laws.

Okoye asked Eze to report the case to the public relations department of the command to assist with the investigation.

“The Imo state police command is not unaware of a video making the rounds on social media, in which a nursing mother who identified herself as Mrs. Ogechi Eze, alleged that she and her children were assaulted by operatives of the command’s anti-kidnapping unit, (Tiger Base),” the statement reads.

“Accordingly, the commissioner of police Imo state command, CP Aboki Danjuma, has ordered the immediate arrest and detention of the alleged officers.

“He tasked the assistant commissioner of police in charge of the command’s x-squad and provost to ensure that the alleged officers are sanctioned in accordance with the force’s extant laws if found culpable.

“The command, therefore, encourages Mrs Ogechi to report at the police public relations department, command headquarters, Owerri, to assist in identifying the officers in the ongoing investigation.

“The commissioner of police reaffirms that the command under his watch will never condone any form of unprofessionalism, arrest by proxy, assault, or incivility to members of the public by its personnel.”