Officer who brutalised traveller in Kogi arrested

Isah Barnabas, the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who brutalised a traveller in Okene, Kogi State, has been arrested.

A police team on stop and search had intercepted some vehicle conveying travellers.

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The officers – Inspector Ifediegwu Godwin, Sergeant Emmanuel Ochima, Corporal Umameh Mathias and Barnabas – were said to have forcefully collected bribe from a traveller who was seen with a laptop.

A traveller, who challenged one of the officers, was slapped in public.

The video of the incident had triggered outrage, with many calling on the authorities to discipline the officers.

In a statement on Sunday, William Aya, Police Public Relations Officer in Kogi, said Barnabas had been arrested.

Aya said aside Barnabas, the other officers who were involved in the alleged extortion, have also been arrested.

He said the officers were from Adogo Police Division in Kogi. 

“The Kogi State Police Command has commenced investigations into a trending video where Police personnel attached to Adogo Division, while on patrol duty along Adogo-Okene road, reportedly extorted the sum of Twenty-Five Thousand Naira (N25,000) from a traveller while another was physically assaulted by one of the men in uniform.”

“The Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Police Command, CP Idrisu Dauda Dabban, psc (+), fdc, while condemning the incident, noted that the Police officers have been identified and detained at the State Criminal Investigations Department.

“The Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) has been issued an official query while the three (3) other junior officers are currently undergoing orderly room trial (Police internal disciplinary actions).

“The CP further noted that the Command is doing its best to establish contact with the victims. He enjoined the victims to reach out to the Command thorough 08107899269.

“He assured that any of the officers found wanting in the investigations would be dealt with accordingly,” the statement read.

The assault happened at a time when the government is trying to prevent an anniversary of the EndSARS protests.

The protest which shook the nation last year was a demonstration against police brutality.

It later degenerated into violence.