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By Madu Obi
The youth leader of Ezinano community in Awka, Anambra State, Mr. Tochukwu Nwokoye has narrated how the intervention of the Anambra State Commissioner of Police saved him from being brutalized by the men of the dreaded Awkuzu Rapid Response Squad, RRS, in the state.
Narrating his ordeal in Awka, Nwokoye alleged that the officer in charge of RRS had accused the youths of Ezinano of killing people and burying them in their communal land, an allegation he denied.
According to Nwokoye, the youths were in their ancestral land at Ezinano when suddenly ,a team of policemen led by SP Ifeanyi Iburu stormed the place, started shooting sporadically, and ordered them to lie down or be shot dead.
He said: " We were at our land at Ezinano on 1st September 2024. We had plotted the land , fenced it and our women have even planted cassava there. On our arrival, we discovered that some people came with excavators and were destroying our crops and removing beacons.
We immediately sent our Youth Secretary to Police B division in Awka ,to make entry along with the women who planted cassava. The Divisional Police Officer in charge of B.division sent two policemen to know what was happening. We had to stop those people from further destroying our crops and removing our beacons.
As we were still there, we suddenly saw about 15 people with guns shooting in the air and asking us to lie down or risk being killed. We obeyed and as the leader of the youths, I asked them what the problem was. Instead of explaining, they started beating me.
One of the officers from the B Division sent by the DPO explained that they were there to investigate the problem. The police officer was also beaten, with the RRS leader accusing him of being one of the accomplices of criminalities in the town.
They took me to RRS headquarters at Awkuzu where they brought out one AK 47 rifle and tried to hang it on my neck,
I resisted and they started beating me again and forcefully hanged the gun on my neck and took pictures of me with the gun.
After that, the officer in charge ordered that I be sent to Cell 5, without even taking any statement from me. As I got inside the cell, I saw about seven malnourished persons and they told me that they had been there for three months. In my presence, one of the detained people died and they took him away.
They later called my name at about 8pm and asked me to wear my clothes. I never knew we were heading to the office of the State Commissioner of Police in Awka. When we got there, the CP asked the RRS leader whether he recovered the AK47 from me and he said no.
He also asked whether they snapped me a picture with AK47, and when he said no, the CP directed that he should release me. That was how the CP saved me."
A community leader in Ezinano, Chief Arinze Ekelem, who spoke on the issue, wondered why the police should be after Nwokoye who he described as a patriotic son of the community.
According to him, Nwokoye loves his people and his people love him too, noting that whatever concern his people, concerns him.
Ekelem expressed surprise that a rifle was hung on his neck and pictures of him with the gun taken by the police.
He argued that men of RRS are not supposed to be involved in any land matter, adding that even if somebody had reported any infraction, the police should do their due investigation and not to threaten to kill and harass innocent people.
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