Posted by By AKEEB ALARAPE, Ibadan on
Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Alhaji Majekodunmi Aborode, got a dose of brutality at the weekend when policemen attached to Akobo Police Station, Ibadan, descended on him and beat him black and blue. He was also detained for five hours.
Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Alhaji Majekodunmi Aborode, got a dose of brutality at the weekend when policemen attached to Akobo Police Station, Ibadan, descended on him and beat him black and blue. He was also detained for five hours.
His offence was daring to obstruct traffic flow while the monthly sanitation exercise was going on in the state and also for beating up a police Inspector who challenged him.
But image-maker of Oyo State Police Command, Miss Olabisi Okuwobi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), stated that the commissioner was actually the one who assaulted the police Inspector, 'tore his uniform, destroyed his rank and made the crest on his beret fell off."
Narrating his nasty experience to newsmen on Sunday, Aborode explained that he was on patrol of the state to monitor the monthly environmental cleaning exercise when he got to Akobo bridge area where some cleaners were evacuating heaps of refuse.
'As clearing of the refuse was on, a police inspector emerged from nowhere, and ordered that we should leave the place, claiming that the car was causing traffic congestion, when indeed there was no vehicular movement at that time.
'The police Inspector threatened to deflate the tyres of the vehicle, if we did not leave. True to his threat, he went ahead to deflate the tyres. And at this point, my police orderly went to caution him against his action only for him (Inspector) to deal a serious blow on the innocent young man. It was at this point that I alighted from the car to rescue my orderly.
'Immediately the police officer, who was already drunk at that time saw me, he pounced on me and dealt a blow into my forehead and destroyed my eye glasses. When the people around started cautioning him that he was assaulting a state commissioner, he came to his senses and wanted to run, at that point I held him and told one of my aides to run to the DPO to report the matter," the commissioner stated.
He, however, disclosed that one of the police officers in the patrol team had radioed the DPO 'telling him a different side of the story."
'Even without hearing from me, the DPO, who I learnt, is anti-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state ordered that I be put in the cell, occupied by hardened criminals with my orderly for five good hours. Despite the fact that ACP Lakanu had called him to intimate him that I was a serving commissioner in the state.
'How could I be treated this way for serving my people. I have lived in the UK for over 15 years. This has never happened. This country is a nightmare," the commissioner added.
But in her reaction to the incident, Okuwobi stated that the commissioner deserved the treatment he got, contending that the commissioner went beyond his limit by assaulting a senior police officer.
'We should be the one running to the press over the assault on one of our officers by the commissioner. The commissioner was never assaulted by the police officer who was carrying out his lawful duty. In fact, if not for the fact that there was no court session on Saturday, he would have been arraigned immediately for engaging in an act unbecoming of a person of his status.
'The officer that challenged him was not just a police man but a senior police officer. So, while performing his legal duty as a commissioner in the state, he should not as well be engaged in illegalities. He was said to have caused obstruction on the road on the environmental sanitation day and when the officer told him to move his vehicle from the place, he moved close to him, dragged him, tore his uniform, destroyed his rank and the crest on his beret fell off," the police image-maker alleged.
She said the command would go ahead to arraign the commissioner for assault of a police officer to serve as a lesson to other public office holders in the country.