Five Years After Anti SARS Protests: Victims Of Police Brutality In Abia Send SOS To Otti

Forty six Nigerians of Abia State origin who allegedly were victims of police brutality that resulted in the anti SARS protests in 2020 have cried out to the Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti to urgently commence the process of paying them (the victims) in Abia State their compensations for injuries they incurred as well as the loss of their properties as recommended by a panel of enquiry set up by the then state government.

Addressing newsmen on Sunday, the spokesman of the group, Dr Osita Nwabuko said 46 of them whose cases were found to have merit by the panel were awarded a total sum of N511million.

It will be recalled the 19-member panel was headed by a former Chief Judge of the state, Hon Justice Sunday Imo.

According to Nwabuko, at the outburst of the anti SARS protests across the country, the Federal Government directed various states to set up panels of enquiries to look into the grievances of the protesters and ascertain the magnitude of the cases, adding that Abia’s panel whose Secretary was then Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Barr (Mrs) Uzoamaka Ikonne looked into the complaints of assault, abuse, incursion and destruction of properties by the police and individuals using the services of the police and made vital recommendations.

In a Save Our Soul (SOS) letter to the Governor Otti made available to newsmen in Umuahia, Dr Nwabuko explained that the panel’s recommendations were submitted to the immediate past governor, Okezie Ikpeazu for implementation, stressing that contrary to the directive of the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government that states should pay the compensations, the government of Ikpeazu did not pay any of them before his exit from office in 2023.

“Your Excellency sir, we plead with every sense of humility, honour and respect that you direct the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Abia State to make available to you a copy of the panel’s report and its recommendations for your kind intervention.

“Many of our members (the victims) are very sick, some have died even recently, another elderly man Chief Emeh died. Some are still in the mortuary unable to be buried because of lack of funds. You have been our hope, please help us.

”We are confident that you will ensure our succor. We fought for your election in 2023 and to the glory of God, you came on board”, the group declared.

Explaining what some of the victims of the police brutality went through in the hands of the police before the outbreak of the SARS protests, Dr Nwabuko, a medical doctor, said he (himself) was arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to the Force Headquarters in Abuja for refusing to sell his property (the house where he lived at Low Cost Housing Estate, Umuahia) to a top government official who wanted to use the property and the vast land for a hotel.

According to him, before he could come back from Abuja after spending close to four months in detention, his property had been bulldozed and leveled up with all his domestic animals killed and his family rendered homeless, adding “what I saw was heartbreaking; a huge construction going on in my premises as the vast land had been turned into a site for a hotel owned by the government’s official.

“I instituted a case at the High Court and when the panel was set up, I went to the panel to lodge my report. The panel, after reviewing my case was shocked and thereafter awarded N200million to me. Others were also awarded various sums amounting to N311million and bringing the total of the awards to N511million.

“Meanwhile, in compliance with the Federal Government directive, states like Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Osun, Rivers, Ekiti, FCT all have paid the victims of the police brutality in their states except Abia. Many other states are still paying; we’re therefore begging His Excellency, Governor Alex Otti to please have mercy because our people are suffering, we lost everything.

“We appreciate His Excellency for the numerous works he has been doing in our dear state, Abia. We voted for him, we’ll also vote for him in 2027. 21 of us have died; six have been buried while 15 are still in the mortuary, there’s no money to bury them.

“Some of our cases were celebrated in the panel because it was unheard off. Nobody believed that police can enter somebody’s house and use bulldozer to level his house, destroy his cars and domestic animals, threaten to kill members of his family if they resisted. It’s unimaginable; the shock alone was unbearable and the judge and the panelists saw it as an eyesore.

“And considering how they (the police) were also killing innocent people, like what happened in Aba where they were touching people’s houses, the panel found it disgusting. Police would bring fuel, pour on somebody’s house and set it ablaze. All these irritated the panel.

“Right now, I’m homeless and sick. We actually need the urgent intervention of His Excellency”, he pleaded.