Policemen assaulted an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, on busy Akure-Owo Road, Ondo State, reports have said.
An officer of the Ondo State Command of the NSCDC, simply known as Inspector Seun was said to have engaged some men of the state command of the Nigeria Police in a free-for-all.
According to an eyewitness, the civil defence inspector got a beating of his life from the policemen, who later handcuffed and took him to the Ijapo Police Division, where he was detained.
The disagreement was said to have occurred between NSCDC officer and the policemen, when the policemen asked for the particulars of an unregistered car that the civil defence officer was driving.
The NSCDC officer apparently irked by the request, being an officer himself, exchanged hot words with the policeman, which later led to a fight.
Instead of dousing the tension, an eyewitness said all the policemen at the scene pounced on the NSCDC officer man who had none of his colleagues around to rescue him, adding that after the beating, he was allegedly handcuffed and taken to Ijapo Police station.
Following the incident, the two security agencies have started trading blames.
In his reaction, state Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC, Mr. Kayode Balogun, said the officer, whom he simply identified as Inspector Seun, was allegedly assaulted by the police officers of Ijapo Division while coming from Abuja with a Volkswagen Golf Car on the fateful day.
Balogun explained that the NSCDC officer was stopped by the policemen at Ado Junction and demanded for the particulars of the car he was driving, but that his explanation on his unregistered vehicle led to his thorough beaten by the policemen.
“Seun, who was in uniform, coming from Abuja with his car, the policemen at Ado Junction stopped him and asked for the particulars of his car. As he was trying to explain to them why he was yet to get the particulars from a Cooperative Society, through which he bought the car, one of them just slapped him .”
“Before he knew what was happening, the rest of them have joined in the beating, after beating him they tied him to his car with handcuff, tore his clothes, and detained him at Ijapo Police station,” he said.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Ondo State Command, Mr Wole Ogodo, however disagreed with the NSCDC counterpart, saying it was the NSCDC officer that first slapped the police officer who demanded for his vehicle particulars.
According to Ogodo, the men who were on duty stopped the NSCDC officer for driving an unregistered vehicle, which made the policeman to request for the vehicle particulars.
The PPRO alleged that the NSCDC officer instead of introducing himself, resulted to fighting the policemen, who were simply doing their legitimate duties.
“The Civil Defence officer was on mufti, the policemen did not know him, he was driving an unregistered vehicle and was stopped, and a policeman requested for the particulars of his vehicle. Instead of introducing himself gently to the Corporal, he just slapped the Corporal to an extent that he tore his cloth.”
“When other policemen on duty got there to settle the matter, he also assaulted them, even those officers that are senior to him in rank, he was rude to them, that was why he was taken to the police station that he had committed an offence,” Ogodo said.
