- A lawyer in Delta state was allegedly battered by police officers for seeking his client’s bail
- He was reportedly beaten by over ten unidentified police officers
- The Delta state police command, however, denied the allegation, accusing the lawyer of assaulting a uniform police officer on duty
A Nigerian lawyer identified as Bernard Oyabevwe was allegedly beaten to a pulp by policemen attached to a police station in the ‘A’ Division of the Delta State Police Command in Warri for defending his client.
The lawyer, according to The Punch, was said to have visited the division to defend his client who was arrested by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on June 5, 2018.
NAIJ.com gathered that trouble started when Oyabevwe found out that his client and his wife had been forcefully arrested by the EFCC officials from Magistrate Court II and taken to the division.
Lawyer Bernard Oyabevwe was allegedly beaten to a pulp for seeking his client's bail. Credit: dnllegalandstyle.com
The lawyer was said to have gone to the division to ascertain why his clients were arrested.
While there, the policemen at the station allegedly threatened to kill the lawyer and whoever dared to intervene.
A source, who allegedly spoke on condition of anonymity, said one of the policemen pushed the lawyer against the EFCC vehicle that was conveying his client and his wife to an unknown destination.
Other policemen were alleged to have held Oyabevwe and beat him to the point that he could no longer talk.
“He started bleeding and coughing out blood until some court officials from both the high and magistrate’s courts intervened and insisted that he should be rushed immediately for medical treatment,” the source was quoted to have said.
The assault on the lawyer was reportedly carried out by over ten unidentified policemen who allegedly used their guns to hit the victim’s eyes.
Oyabevwe, who reportedly confirmed the attack on him, accused the divisional police officer of the station, Kenneth Zuokumor, a Chief Superintendent of Police, of being behind his attack, saying that he lost a mobile set and N50,000 cash in his pocket.
He stated that he was charged to court at the end of the melee in his bleeding condition on three count-charge of obstructing justice, threats to peace and attacking the station.
Meanwhile, the Warri branch of NBA has called on the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Service Commission to immediately probe the assault by police on its member.
Briefing journalists at a news conference in Warri on Sunday, June 10, the chairman of the Warri NBA, Godwin Ebowe, flanked by his deputy, Kunle Edun, among others, demanded the dismissal of the police officers involved in the attack and the transfer of the DPO, Area Commander and the state commissioner of police for their alleged complicity in the attack.
Ebowe said: “We will not accept that as lawyers. We want the world to know that we are not going to sleep and allow this matter to be wished away or swept under the carpet. No amount of pleading, they must be brought to book. The policemen involved must be prosecuted before the relevant courts, while we take our civil action.”
However, the state police command denied the allegation, accusing Oyabevwe of assaulting a uniform police officer on duty.
The state police public relations officer, Andrew Aniamaka, said the lawyer had already been arraigned in court for obstructing officials of the EFCC by conducting himself in a manner that caused the breach of peace and assaulting a police officer.
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“There is a matter that the EFCC is investigating for which some officials of the agency came to Delta state and the lawyer while trying to defend his client became violent and the EFCC could not contain him and, so, the matter somehow was brought to the station. And still, he would not reason with the policemen who were trying to control the situation,” he said.
NAIJ.com previously reported that a Lagos based legal practitioner identified as Sunday Elimihe, became partially blind after he was assaulted by some police officers attached to the Onipanu division in the state.
The 42-year-old lawyer was rushed to the Shomolu General Hospital on Thursday, April 7, after the alleged assault.
Elimihe told newsmen that he was beaten to stupor by the police officers for refusing to give them N1,000 bribe, adding that the policemen, however, stole the N150,000 he kept in his car’s pigeon hole.
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Source: Naija.ng