BENIN CITY – Operatives attached to the Edo state police command on Wednesday assaulted and threatened to shoot a man over a woman who alleged the man looked at her nakedness while she urinated in public.
The incident, which took place during a naming ceremony at Ikhuenhiro community, in Uhunmwode local government threw the area into confusion as one of the police brought out a knife and threatened to also stab the man.
According to an eyewitness account, the operatives, numbering five arrived the ceremony in a red Toyota Camry car apparently invited to secure the event as they reportedly fired several shots into the air.
It was after a while a woman came out from back of the house where the ceremony was ongoing and raised alarm that someone was watching her while she urinated.
It was at that point, an operative clad on brown long sleeve with “Special Forces” SF inscription went berserk and slapped the man, threatening to shoot him with a pistol before the ceremony host and some guests intervened to calm the situation, as it was later gathered the said woman was a mistress to a superior officer.
Another policeman wielding AK-47 rifle, with a name tag, Augustine Erhabor took the bottle of drink with the man, and threw it away, before he slapped him again.
“the man sit down for back of the house with three other people before the woman come tell dem to comot there say she wan piss for there, na the man tell am to go the toilet of the people wen dey do the party since she be woman.
“three other people wen dey with the man comot, but the man no comot. He insist say make the woman go inside and the woman no gree, so she pull trouser dey piss near the man, before he comot go tell the police men”, the eyewitness narrated in pigin to our correspondent.
It was however gathered that the man (name withheld) went to Okhuahie police station in charge of the area the next morning (Thursday) to file a formal complaint, but he was turn down by the officers on duty.
They refused to take his statement, saying the operatives “are unknown police” even when they insisted he called the host via mobile so they (police) can ask him to identify the policemen that he invited to his event.
A senior police officer with the name tag, Monday Igere who spoke with the host through the complainant mobile phone, told him the host said the complainant should “come and arrested him instead” as he cannot reveal their indentity.
The police response however prompted the man to leave the station to go to the state headquarters where he was referred back to Okhuahie, but Igere insisted the police can not arrest or invite the host, as it would amount to forcing him to reveal the men’s identity.
According to the man that was physically assaulted, his life is in danger as nobody knows what next the operatives plan to do to him.
“the one with a pistol who started the assault threatened to take me out where ever he sees me again and went ahead to shot into the air.
“all i needed was for the police to investigate the men and take appropriate action to serve as deterrent to others acting unprofessionally”, he said
