Policemen attached to the Imo state police command have come under serious attack from residents of Owerri, the state capital, following the brutalization of students of Imo state university, Owerri, living at Olive hostel, The Punch reports.
Our correspondent who visited the hotel located in front of the university on Friday afternoon, was told by few of the students who were still around that the cops stormed the place around 9pm on Thursday.
The undergraduates said that the policemen stormed the hostel, vandalized doors of over 15 rooms, threw teargas cannisters, brutalized them, including female occupants and arrested no fewer than 21 of them.
The enraged students said that some of the arrested students were made to pay N60,000, N30,000 and N20, 000 before they were allowed to go from the police station on Thursday night and Friday morning, respectively.
Our correspondent’s investigation revealed that about four students who had not been able to raise bailout money were still being held in police custody.
One of the students who identified himself simply as, Murphy, said ” two occupants of one of the rooms in the hostel were having issues and one of them left and invited his police boyfriend.
After one hour, policemen in three jeeps stormed the hostel and started beating everybody. They used planks on us, including the female students. They broke into rooms and destroyed properties, including doors of no less than 15 rooms. They also took money and phones and arrested no less than 21 students.
“Some came home after paying N60,000, N30,000 and N20,000, respectively. Some of the brutalized students are receiving treatment in undisclosed hospitals. As we speak, some are still in police custody because they don’t have money to bail themselves.
“The irony of the matter is that the girl who called her police boyfriend is squatting with the girl she fought. She came on an Industrial Training from a university outside the state.”
When contacted, the IMSU spokesperson, Ralph Obinjoku, said that the Chief security officer of the university and Dean students affairs had swung into action.
The police spokesperson for the command, Micheal Abattam, said that the Commissioner of Police, Rabiu Hussaini, had ordered holistic investigation into the incident.
Source: The Punch
