A personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and a group of Baushe hunters have allegedly brutalised a Superintendent of Police, Suleiman Umar, at Gwabba area of Bauchi metropolis.
SP Umar, who was attached to Azare Area Command, sustained injuries on his head, shoulder and other parts of his body during the incident on Saturday.
Addressing newsmen on Sunday in Bauchi, SP Umar disclosed that he was assaulted by the team without any provocation, saying “an NSCDC personnel, Hassan Usman, led a team of hunters to attack me despite identifying himself as a police officer.”
SP Umar said: “It was yesterday (Sunday), January 14, 2023, when I went to drop my children at school and was returning and heading towards our family house around the Emir’s Palace roundabout.
“I got to Gwabba area of Bauchi metropolis, and there was a Hilux van belonging to Baushe hunters parked in the middle of the road. They were trying to get at a commercial Keke NAPEP rider who drove recklessly in front of them.”
“Since I was behind them and had no business with them, I drove past and they started abusing me. So I asked them why they were abusing me and I drove on. When I got to the roundabout beside the Emir’s Palace, I got down and was about to enter our family house.
“Suddenly, they parked close to me, alighted from their vehicle and the leader of the team, a personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, one ASC Hassan Usman, brought out a cable and started flogging me with it.
“I told him, don’t beat me, I am a Superintendent of Police, what have I done to you,? But he refused to stop. He was in uniform and was with some men of Baushe Hunters.
In fact, one of the hunters told him to stop saying that he knows me as a police officer. He did not stop even though my gun was in my hand,” SP Umar added.
The Bauchi State Police spokesman, SP Ahmed Wakil, confirmed the incident, saying the Commissioner of Police, Aminu Alhassan, had ordered immediate investigation into the matter
Wakil said, “We received a complaint of criminal conspiracy and assault from SP Suleiman Umar on 14 January 2023.
“The Commissioner of police has directed a discreet investigation be carried out and those found wanting should be made to face the full wrath of the law.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Bauchi State Command of the NSCDC were not successful at the time of filing this report.