28-year-old accuses cop of stripping her naked, unlawful arrest in Delta

A 20-year-old girl, Mercy Okoro on Monday accused the Divisional Police Officer in Ekpan, Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, SP Asanayin Ibok, of stripping her naked over a disagreement with her landlord.

Mercy, also accused Ibok of unlawful arrest of her widowed mother, Mrs Lucy Okoro and her younger sister over the said disagreement.

Mercy, who spoke to journalists in Warri,  said the incident occurred at about 3:00 p.m on Friday, January 10.

Narrating how the incident happened, Mercy said a tenant, Andrew Obas, who had refused to pay his three months rent invited the Police to their home.

Mercy, who spoke in pidgin, said, “We gave him four months which elapsed this January but he refused to pay.

“We asked him to pack out instead, he brought armed Policemen. They shot sporadically, came to our house and carried my sister, dragged her legs and kicked her.

“I held the Policeman that they should leave my sister alone. The Policeman (DPO) stripped me naked. He dragged my wrapper on my neck and kicked my buttocks.

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“They bundled my sister into their patrol van and took me to the Police Station. When I got there, I never knew it was the DPO at first.

“At the police station, the Policewoman at the counter sprayed pepper teargas into my eyes. I thought I was already blind.

“At night, the DPO and some men came and abused me. They said, ‘see me as I be. Who go marry me? I nor even get flesh. I dry finish. No man go see me wey want marry me. Any man wey marry me naim be say he sorry for am.”

Mercy appealed to the government and human rights organizations in the country as well as the International Community to take the matter up against the DPO in the interest of justice, fairness and equity.

“If they don’t fight this case, it means there is no justice in Nigeria. If na criminal or fight, it means am being punished for what I have done but for a man to raise up his hands on a woman, the government should see that it is wrong for a police officer, to slap me like this,” she pleaded.

Mrs Lucy Okoro, a widow and mother of Mercy who was also arrested by the Police said, “I want the government to put an end to this problem of harassment with the tenants because they have been oppressing me.

“After owing me 3months, he said he will not pay and he boasted that he will give me problems. That’s why I said he should pack with the money and go.

” I went to the Court and obtained a month quit notice and gave him. After that, I went back to the Court, obtained a seven days notice which I also gave him which elapsed on Friday, January 10.

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Mrs Okoro, who corroborated the claims of her daughter, said he wanted the Government to tell the world the truth about the molestation by the DPO.

The National Chairman of Human Rights Defenders Organization, Sir Casely Omon-Irabor Esq., in a chat with journalists in Warri said, “we got a distressed call that a widow was being manhandled for a disagreement between her and her tenant.

“We sent two of our lawyers to go and find out and we discovered that the Police naked the first daughter of the widow. They were beatings her. Our lawyers intervened but they didn’t listen to him.

“I called the DPO who said because am involved, he is going to set the widow free. He still detained the two girls.

“What actually is the offence, he(DPO) said that they locked their gate against a tenant who they say was owing four months rent.

“I said you don’t have to eject a tenant like that but that is not a criminal offence.”

Sir. Irabor explained that once a tenant is owing three months rent, he is no longer a tenant but a squatter, adding that Mercy was beaten until she fainted.

“I’m not interested in ruining anybody’s career but we must send a good message. This Buhari administration is Democratic. People should learn to observe the rule of law. The rule of law, especially on the rights of an individual, must be held sacrosanct,” the human rights lawyer noted.

Meanwhile, the Ekpan Divisional Police Officer, SP Ibok Asanenyi, has denied the allegations levelled against him saying, “It is not true.”

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While noting that the widow and her daughters locked the gate against their tenant, SP Asanenyi said such an act could cause problems between a landlord and tenant.

He said he was not around when the incident occurred let alone stripping the girl naked.

The Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Hafiz Inuwa, in a chat with journalists, also denied the involvement of DPO Ibok.

“It was not even the DPO because when it happened, the DPO was not even there.

“As I am speaking with you, this is the second time a Journalist is calling me before this one. The other first introduced himself. Initially, he wanted to even get across to me because of what one human rights person alleged.

“But when he could not get me, he just made his enquiry and discovered that it was not even true because the DPO even told him that he was not there at the station when the matter was reported.

“As I am talking to you now, we did not record anything like this,” CP Inuwa insisted.