The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong, has ordered the immediate arrest of a yet-to-identified policeman seen in a viral video assaulting a man at Elibrade junction in the Emohua Local Government Area of the state.
CP Effiong also said the other policemen seen at the location while their colleague assaulted the man should be identified and arrested.
The video showed the moment a policeman holding a rifle in his left hand and a whip in his right used the whip twice on the man’s leg and also slapped him twice, asking him in pidgin to keep moving.
Other gun-bearing operatives were present at the scene but none of them made any effort to restrain their colleague from further assaulting the man.
The unidentified man dressed in white asked the cop repeatedly ‘Did I steal?’ Even when the man grabbed the whip from the policeman, he received another slap and was ordered to move.
Meanwhile, a female voice heard in the back called on the man to leave the spot and join her, saying, “Come let’s go.”
A few minutes afterwards, the man held his face and moved towards a car parked by the highway.
The offence of the man being assaulted could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.
The Commissioner however gave the arrest order in a statement signed by the State Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, on Monday.
Effiong assured members of the public that the police officers would be investigated in line with extant rules underlying the conduct of police personnel, adding that appropriate sanctions would follow.
The statement partly read, “Following the identification of the policemen shown in a viral video harassing and assaulting an unidentified man at Elibrade junction, Emohua, the Rivers State Command Commissioner, Okon Effiong, has ordered the immediate arrest of the officers indicated.
“As a defender of human rights, the CP assures members of the public that the police officers will be investigated in line with extant rules underlying the conduct of police personnel; and appropriate sanctions meted accordingly.”
