Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Nwachukwu Enwonwu, has set up a high-powered investigative team to probe the video clip that went viral on social media on Wednesday about how some policemen in the state unprofessionally harassed a lady sexually after they arrested a suspected armed robber cum kidnapping kingpin.
The video clip has, however, attracted the attention of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who has ordered investigation into the incident, and that the actors in the video should be arrested.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said: “The IGP has directed that those actors in that video must be arrested. The Commissioner of Police, Mr Nwachukwu Enwonwu, has also given an order with immediate effect to arrest the culprits. He has set up a high-powered investigative team.”
He stated further that the CP has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) to commence investigation on the matter, saying the investigation has commenced in earnest “and I can tell you that very soon, all those perpetrators are going to be arrested and brought to justice.”
The lady, who was arrested in the house of the alleged kidnapper in Ibadan, introduced herself as Towobola, and a newly discharged corps member, adding that she graduated from the University of Ibadan, and she was into a business such as sales of shoes, which brought her in contact with the suspect.
Towobola claimed that the man asked her to come to his house on the day the incident happened to prepare food for him, saying she got to the house of the man in the morning of the fateful day, and that she was not aware that the man was into either armed robbery or kidnapping.
But one of the policemen that introduced himself as Wyclef, and his colleagues asked the lady how she got to know the man, if she was a virgin, and how many men she had slept with her, and if the man in question had slept with her. The lady was slapped, and at a time she was on the ground, begging the policemen, though she was in handcuff.
Towobola said in the video about her lover: “He told me that he has a business in Lagos. He said he is a soft drink merchant. Before meeting him, I had no boyfriend and I just collected my NYSC discharge certificate only three days ago.
Wyclef, while questioning the lady, said: “You just left your old boyfriend and switched over to this armed robber/ kidnapper because he has money and a big car to flaunt,” asking further why the lady broke up with her boyfriend to which she said her boyfriend broke up with her willingly due to irreconcilable differences.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Oyo State Chapter, has condemned the action of the policemen in the viral video, and offered free legal services to Towobola towards getting justice. Chairperson of the group, Oluyemisi Collins, made on Thursday said FIDA resolved to offer free legal services to the lady, following the dehumanising way and manner she was treated, saying: “Having watched the said video, we can not but express our shock, anger, sorrow, pain, and condemnation on the dehumanizing way the young lady was treated.
”Assuming but not conceding that the man in the clip was an armed robber and kidnapper as alleged, couldn’t the young lady have been his potential victim? Why would the police officer interrogate her on her private life bordering on immortality and attempt to link same to the alleged crime? Why would the police feel comfortable in breaching her right to dignity of human person?, why was she given such a negative publicity? Just like every concern citizens, we are searching for answers to why such treatments were meted out to the young lady.
”We call on the Inspector General of Police and the Oyo state Commissioner of Police in whose jurisdiction this illegal act was committed, not to only investigate, but to ensure that the perpetrators of this dastard act are brought to book so as to serve as deterrence to others. Finally, FIDA reiterates her commitment to the promotion and protection of the right of women and children in our society. We undertake to ensure that all legal machineries and defence are set in motion to ensure that Towobola gets justice, her dignity restored, and her damaged image redeemed.”