By Eben Enasco
Inhabitants and road users of Ogunmwenyi, Aruogba, and Central Ugbor metropolis in Benin area of Edo State have reasons to live in anxiety over alleged Police exploitation during stop and search exercise conducted within the axis.
The allegations, according to eyewitnesses, have become a daily routine to exploit younger people who glide on ostentatious cars.
The allegations could not be confirmed by the Police authority when the Alltimepost.com contacted the Edo State Command’s spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor today.
Although Nwabuzor promised during the conversation with our correspondent to visit the said area for an on-the-spot assessment, more sources confirmed the nefarious activities of the policemen in the said area.
A source further alleged that the Police team had continued to mount roadblocks within the area for several months with the sole intention to obtain members of the public of their hard-earned income, especially the ones (police) operating in unnumbered Sienna Space Bus and Audi cars.
The witness maintained that they are always in the habit of stopping tricycles, Yaris Cars, public transport vehicles, and private car owners, as they are seen singling out some persons and subjecting them to all kinds of dehumanization, phone-searching and brutal assault with their rifles and extortion of all sorts.
A top government official who declined to have his name on print lamented how these policemen have victimized members of the unsuspected public.
Speaking to our correspondent in Benin City, the Victim noted, “This Sunday, March 5, 2023, afternoon precisely, policemen in Aruogba end of the road, stopped a tricycle and started humiliating the passengers and in the process, brutalized a young man who tried resisting his phone being searched.”
Continuing, he explained that they bundled the young man into their tinted Sienna Space Bus without a plate number.
He said, “these are supposed to be policemen who carry out all sorts of illegalities and cannot be duly identified.”
He appealed to top police officers to wade into what he claimed to be uncivilized actions and attitudes of the policemen.
While adding that the action has become a daily occurrence in the area, he stressed that residents and passersby have been subjected to all manners of ugly scenes, urging the stop and search officers to implore caution not to incur the wrath of the already tensed society.
According to the rule of engagement, the Police have the right to search a suspected person’s Phone, laptop. However, the search must be performed, if a warrant paper to conduct such a search is issued by a Judge.
Without the warrant to search, that action is likely to breach the right of the owner and can be adjudged illegal and can attract penalties to the erring officials of the Nigerian Police.
