Daily Independent Online.
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Friday, June 11, 2004.
Mobile policemen molest restaurant owner
By Bamidele Osha
Reporter, Lagos
Mrs Mary Airende, a restaurant owner at Adepitan
Street and her husband Joseph are presently counting their losses including
hospital bills sustained from the beating they allegedly received in the hands
of some Mobile Policemen last week.
The policemen reportedly from the mobile unit of the
Nigeria Police, deployed to guard the private quarters of a Commissioner of
Police with the Rivers State Police Command allegedly molested the eatery owner
and harassed her husband for reasons yet to be fully established.
The incident, according to the couple occurred on May
31 at their 22, Adepitan Street, Alapere, Ketu roadside eatery.
Narrating their ordeal, they said that the two mobile
policemen, one in uniform and another in mufti had walked into their restaurant
at about 7.30pm on the day and demanded to be served by Mary’s younger
sister who was visiting with the Airende’s from the village.
The lady according to Mary was not on the staff of
the eatery but was allowed to attend to the men who ordered two bottles of
beer, in the course of whose service an altercation ensued.
The policeman in mufti reportedly barked insults at
the young lady because she did not understand what the men said to her in
Yoruba language and asked that they spoke to her understanding, which was
returned with more insults as the policemen continued to raise their voices.
At this point, Mary who was seated outside the
canteen came in and inquired what had transpired between the policemen and her
sister. After explanations, Mary instructed that her waiter took over the
service of the men. This however did not go down well the policemen, who rained
insults on Mary and threatened to close down the shop or have it completely
destroyed.
This equally attracted Mary’s husband who
intervened, asking the reason for the quarrel. To his chagrin, Joseph was
insulted and asked to leave the canteen or be severely dealt with. It took the
intervention of the Airende’s landlord to bring the situation under
control. The policemen settled to their drink after which they left the canteen
without settling their bill. When Mary demanded payment, the men threatened to
deal with her. She insisted, grabbing the mufti policeman but was dealt a
resounding slap from behind by the uniformed man, who claimed the mufti
policeman was his superior. The
men reportedly dealt Mary a severe beating so much so that Joseph, who claimed
he was obviously worried, embittered and enraged with developments drove to the
Alapere Police Station where he made a report about what had happened and an
Investigating Police Officer (IPO) was detailed to go along with him to invite
the mobile policemen over to the station.
Mary said before Joseph and the IPO got to the scene,
the mobile men had left.
Mary, Joseph and the IPO however went to the mobile
policemen’s duty post at the private quarters of a Commissioner of
Police, Rivers State Police Command where they met the couple’s
assailants who reportedly bluntly refused to accompany the IPO to the Police
Station on the grounds that they were his superiors.
The mobile operatives have reportedly been posted
elsewhere.
When Daily Independent called at the Alapere Police
Station to get ‘the Police angle’ to the incident, the Crime
Officer explained that he lacked the competence to speak with the Press on the
matter, especially as the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was not available.
