Vice Chairman of the Ebonyi State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Ben Nworie, has petitioned the acting Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, over the alleged embarrassment, unlawful arrest, harassment and detention meted to him by men of the Crack Squad of the State Police Command October 19, 2023 in Abakaliki.
Nworie said that the team at about 7;30pm, allegedly stormed an entertainment spot he was waiting for the commencement of a dinner organised by the Ebonyi State Government in honour of members of the State House of Assembly, and arrested everybody there.
In the petition dated October 20, 2023 and copied the National President of NUJ, Chief Chris Isiguzo, Nworie who is the State Correspondent of Thisday Newspaper, said that he was detained for over 20 hours by the police in their cell.
“Shortly after my stop over at the shop, men of the Crack Squad sighted our table, stopped and rounded our us, seized our phones and forced me, and my three friends into their two hilus vans to the headquarters of Ebonyi Police Command. All efforts to identify myself and my three friends fell on deaf ears.
On getting to the office of the Crack Squad, we were forcefully ordered to remove our clothes and pushed inside the Cell containing 32 arrested persons.
“It was regrettable also to hear from other detainees who narrated that they were either returning from shops and they were accosted and arrested or they just parked their cars to buy food. A regrettable case was two brothers who said they were going to visit their father at Dr Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital in Abakaliki and were arrested while trekking to the hospital,” Nworie’s petition stated.
The journalist called on the Inspector General of Police to scrap Crack Squad unit of the Ebonyi police command over gross violation of human rights, freedom and extortion of innocent citizens.
He further called on the police boss to arrest, investigate and prosecute operatives of the Crack Squad over their alleged unlawful arrest, detention, harassment, intimidation and financial extortion.
Nworie appealed to the IGP to mandate the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State Command, Tina Ogbodo to step up routine supervision of all the units of the command to ensure that they operate within their rules of engagement and best practices and release all those who were unlawfully arrested.
