Fred Itua, Abuja
A victim of the excesses of disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Enugu State, Mr Chinedu Ogbodo, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, to come to his aid and put an end to the continuous detention of his workers by the deadly disbanded unit.
Ogbodo who hails from Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, speaking through his lawyer who signed the petition, Obinna Ugwu, explained how one Inspector Celestine Nyigba, led his men to the project site.
He narrated how in the early hours of Sunday, 11th October 2020, at about 4 am, Inspector Nyigba led a team of operatives to raid a project site, smashed through the security house and without provocation or any reason, violently pounced on the security guards who had gone in to shield themselves from the rain. He said the security guards have since been held in the SARS facility, Enugu.
He said one of the unarmed night guards was shot on the legs, while some other sustained various degrees of injuries and were bundled out of the project site like common criminals, even when they were not caught in any violent crime.
“Ogbodo was appointed by his community as the site supervisor for the community’s development project situated in Amechi Awkunanaw. He was entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the entire work on the site.
“In the discharge of his responsibility, our client secured the services of some night guards from a private security service outfit based in Enugu and headed by one Alhaji Ahmed which security outfit deployed about five (5) of their personnel to the project site equipping them with torchlights, whistles and clubs necessary for the discharge of their duty to guide the site and call attention in the event of any ugly situation.
“According to our Client, when he resumed work at about 9 am of the same day, he discovered to his greatest dismay the overwhelming absence of the night guards which left the store unprotected, thereby occasioning the breaking into the same store with several items such as a high voltage electricity conductor (that is, High Tension cable) worth about Thirty-Three Million (N33,000,000.00) Naira, steel reinforcement rods worth over Seven Million (N7,000,000.00) Naira, Eight Hundred and Fifty (850) bags of cement among other valuables carted away.
“In view of the above therefore, it is our clients’ most humble desire and prayer that you use your good offices to come to his assistance by causing an immediate release of the innocent security guards whose fundamental human rights have been terribly infringed upon for urgent medical attention so as to avoid a possible loss of the lives of innocent Nigerians,” part of the letter read.
Inspector Nyigba didn’t respond to series of calls. Public relations officer of Enugu Police Command, Daniel Ndukwe, Inna conversation with Daily Sun, said he was in a meeting. He pleaded that a message be sent to him.
“I’m in a meeting. You can call me later or send me a message. I’ll respond to the issue. That’s better,” he said.
He didn’t however respond.