Metro

Police Brutality: Man Groans As Officer Torture, Inflicts Serious Injury On Him

Published

4 years ago

June 30, 2021

Editor

A police officer named Beatrice Amowie has tortured and inflicted serious injuries on a suspect, Mr. Vincent Omosigho Erawuyi, a 37-year-old cab driver who was detained in the cell in Benin.

Omosigho, a father of two said he had encountered with Amowie, a Police Inspector attached to Etete Police station, Benin, at Limit Junction Benin when he went their stand at the junction to apologise to an officer he said he offended for not stopping when he he was asked to stop the previous day.

He added that not knowing to him, the officer was not on duty but he unknowningly apologised to the wrong officer (Amowie) who he said was on duty at the junction and reportedly punched him.

Omosigho who was groaning in pain while speaking to newsmen said on his bid to escape from officer Amowie, his right hand mistakenly hit her on her chick which led to his arrest and detention.

“I was stopped by a police officer on the 9th of July at Limit Junction. The officer stopped me and was about damaging my sidemirror so I zoomed off. But because it is my regular route, and knowing well that I had wronged the officer, I went there to beg but, honestly speaking, I never knew it was the wrong person I was apologising to. As I was apologising for my wrong doing the previous day, she held me tight on my neck with my shirt and started punching me. And on my bid to escape, my hand mistakenly hits her on the chick and she arrested me and took me to Etete Police station,” he said while weeping.

According to him, he was detained in the cell for more than a week before he was charged to court, adding that during this period the police denied his family to gain access to him.

Omosigho adding that, in the course of his trial in the court, he was granted bail but he was unable to meet the bail conditions which warranted his return to the cell.

He noted that, on getting to the cell after few days, the Inspector handcuffed him, tortured him and hit him with the butt of her gun on his legs (below his knees) thereby inflicting serious injuries on his legs particularly his left leg which was already filled with poss as at when he spoke with newsmen in pain.

He noted that after the torture he was still detained in the cell for over two weeks with no medical treatment, adding that the Inspector vowed that he was going to die in cell while they denied his family members to see him.

Also speaking to our Correspondent in tears, Stella Erawuyi, wife of the suspect, said “They did not allow any of us to see him in the cell so I had to pay N1,000 each time I went to the cell to visit him. They refused us to see him after they beat him and injure him.”

When contacted on phone, police spokesperson in Edo State, SP Bello Kontongs said he was aware of the incident, adding that he had received several calls from activist on the incident but the victim needs to be accompanied by those calling for justice in the incident to the command headquarters or zone 5 so the matter can be treated.

“I’ve received several calls from journalists and activists on the matter but the advice I have been giving is that they should bring the victim to the command headquarters or zone 5 headquarters so they can properly lodge their complaint and we follow it up.

“The station concerned is just a divisional police headquarters so it is not higher than the state command or zone 5. When we receive the complaint formally, we will handle it,” he said.

Metro

Teacher In Police Net For Tying, Beating Pupil In Bauchi

Published

2 hours ago

September 24, 2025

Editor

The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old Almajiri teacher, Lawal Nasiru, for allegedly assaulting one of his pupils in the Darazo Local Government Area of the state.

The victim, identified as 11-year-old Sa’id Sani, was reportedly tied with a heavy rope and beaten with a stick and thick cable, leaving him with multiple injuries.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

He explained that the incident was reported to the Divisional Police Headquarters, Darazo, on September 22, 2025, by one Idris Mohammed, 50, of Gidan Waya, Darazo, who was accompanied by the injured minor.

The statement read, “On the 21st September, 2025, one Lawal Nasiru, aged 28 years, of Unguwar Jarmai, Darazo, criminally used a heavy rope to inhumanely tie the said Sa’id, an Almajiri boy, and further assaulted him with a stick and thick cable, causing various degrees of injuries to his hands and legs.”

“Upon receipt of the complaint, the Divisional Police Officer, SP Auwalu Ilu, led a team of operatives to the scene where the suspect was arrested. The victim was immediately taken to General Hospital, Darazo, for medical examination and treatment.”

Wakil noted that during interrogation, the suspect confessed to the act, claiming that the boy had attempted to flee from the school, and he tied him to prevent him from running away before his parents arrived.

“The minor also narrated how the suspect mercilessly confined him with a thick rope for a prolonged period,” the police spokesman added.

He said the Commissioner of Police, Sani-Omolori Aliyu, has directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Bauchi, for discreet investigation.

Wakil further assured that the suspect would be profiled and charged in court upon completion of investigations.

Metro

Abuja Court Jails Ex-legislative Aide For N120m Fraud

Published

16 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Jabi on Monday sentenced a former legislative aide and banker, Mr Goni Yilkan, to eight years in prison for obtaining N120.58 million by false pretence.

Justice F. E. Messiri found Yilkan guilty of a two-count employment scam charge, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission revealed in a statement issued via its X handle on Tuesday.

“Yilkan, who hails from Nguru, Yobe State, was found guilty on a two-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act, and consequently sentenced to eight years imprisonment without option of fine,” the statement read.

According to EFCC, the convict was arraigned alongside one Mohammed Adamu in October 2023, following investigations into a petitioner’s claims of being defrauded by the convict.

One of the charges read: “That you, Mohammed Goni Yilkan, Mohammed Adamu and others at large between 3rd January 2020 and December 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N120, 580, 550 (One Hundred and Twenty Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty Naira) from Mrs. Hindatu Bello under the false pretence that you had the capacity to secure jobs for her candidates in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

In the course of the trial, EFCC said the petitioner explained that “Yilkan deceived her between 2020 and 2021 into believing that he had the capacity to secure employment slots in government agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“On this strength, the petitioner collected varying sums of money from over 60 jobseekers, amounting to N120,580,550.00 (One Hundred and Twenty Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty Naira), which she allegedly remitted to the convict.”

However, the purported employment offers never materialised, prompting Bello to petition the EFCC.

The prosecution, led by Cosmas Ugwu, called six witnesses and tendered documentary evidence, while the defence, led by J.A. Oguche, presented two witnesses, including Yilkan himself.

In his judgment, Justice Messiri held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicted Yilkan, but discharged and acquitted his co-defendant, Adamu.

The judge further sentenced Yilkan to eight years’ imprisonment without an option of fine.

Earlier, The PUNCH reported that the EFCC Ilorin Zonal Directorate arrested 28 suspected internet fraudsters in Kwara State.

The suspects, according to a statement on Monday, “were picked up in the early hours of Tuesday during sting operations carried out in Tanke, University Road, Oshin, and Agbabiaka areas of the state capital.”

Metro

Soldiers Who Sold Arms To Terrorists Sentenced To Death

Published

16 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

A special court-martial of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Borno State, has sentenced three soldiers to life imprisonment and another to 15 years for illegal arms deals carried out in connivance with police officers and terrorists.

The trial, presided over by Brigadier General Ugochukwu Unachukwu, acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division and Commander of Sector 1, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), took place at the Officers’ Mess of the Theatre Command Headquarters in Maiduguri.

Delivering judgment, Brigadier General Mohammed Abdullahi, president of the court-martial, pronounced Raphael Ameh, a sergeant; Ejiga Musa, a sergeant; and Patrick Ocheje, a lance corporal, guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Omitoye Rufus, a corporal, was however handed a 15-year jail term.

The soldiers were convicted of offences ranging from theft and unlawful dealing in ammunition to aiding the enemy, all punishable under the Armed Forces Act.

Ameh, who served as an armourer at the 7 Division Garrison, was found to have conspired with a deceased colleague to steal ammunition from the division’s armoury.

He worked with police officers to conceal weapons in bags of beans and smuggle them to Enugu and Ebonyi for criminals.

Abdullahi revealed that bank records linked Ameh to over 100 suspicious transactions between July 2022 and June 2024.

Musa, while serving as armourer of 195 Battalion, was discovered to have collaborated with Ocheje and police officers in selling an AK-47 rifle and large quantities of ammunition.

Records showed he collected more than ₦500,000 from the transactions before he was arrested while attempting to sell more ammunition.

Rufus was convicted for selling 40 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition to a police officer, while Ocheje, who was deployed at the forward operating base in Molai, was found guilty of diverting ammunition during communal clashes at the instigation of a police officer.

He also stole an AK-47 rifle belonging to a colleague.

The court held that their actions directly endangered military operations and national security, amounting to aiding the enemy.

Condemning the convicts, Abdullahi described them as “bad eggs” who betrayed the trust, discipline, and honour expected of soldiers in the fight against insurgency.

He restated the army’s zero-tolerance stance on the sale of arms or ammunition to adversaries “in whatever form or guise.”