Nigeria

Lockdown: Police dismiss officers in viral video assaulting woman in Osun

Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 8:01 PM by Rahaman Abiola

- Two police officers caught assaulting a woman in a viral video in Osun state have been dismissed from the force

- The two ex-officers, Inspector Ikuesan Taiwo and PC Abass Ibrahim, were dismissed after their arrest and orderly room trial

- Police said the two officers will be arraigned in court for prosecution after pleading guilty to the offence levelled against them

Nigeria Police Force (NPF) said two officers caught on camera assaulting a woman at the Odo Ori Market, Iwo Osun state over alleged breach of lockdown directive have been dismissed from the force.

A statement by the force on Friday, April 24, disclosed that the officers, Inspector Ikuesan Taiwo with AP NO 251724 and PC Abass Ibrahim with Force No. 509634, pleaded guilty to assault after their orderly room trial.

Police said the officers, who have been dismissed, will not be arraigned before the court on charges bordering on violation of human rights.

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Legit.ng recalls that in what generated an outrage, the two police operatives were recorded while assaulting a woman believed to have defied the lockdown order of Governor Gboyega Oyetola amid the rising tension over coronavirus pandemic.

But in a statement by the force on Saturday, April 18, the behaviour of the officers was described as "unwarranted, unnecessary and unjustifiable," with police adding that the erring officers have been arrested and subjected to orderly room trial.

The police inspector general, Mohammad Adamu, was reported to have been angered by the viral video and immediately directed the CP Johnson Kokumo, the commissioner of police in charge of Osun state command where the incident occurred, to get the officers arrested.

Speaking with the press on Wednesday, the victim said the torture has brought to her physically, emotionally and psychologically damaged.

“I am still under medical and psychological examination as the damage done to me physically, emotionally and psychologically are unquantifiable. I only pray to overcome the pains and the trauma in no distant time,” she said.

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In a subsequent statement on Friday, police said the two former officers will now face the wrath of the law for their action in the court.

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Earlier, Legit.ng had reported that Adamu Mohammed said no sacred cows as the force would go hard on officers caught taking bribes and engaging in abuse of human rights during the lockdown period.

Speaking at the press conference organised by the presidential task force on Covid-19 in Abuja on Tuesday, April 14, the IGP said measures have been put in place to checkmate the excess of officers on duty, The Cable reports.

Adamu urged Nigerians to report human rights abuse by police officers, adding that there is a clear demarcation as regards essential items that can be allowed to move freely during the lockdown.