A journalist, Comrade Phils, has accused the police in Rivers State of beating a mechanic to death after falsely accusing him of robbery.
Phils said in a lengthy post on Facebook on Thursday that Chima Ikwunado was tortured to death at Mile 1 Police Station in Port Harcourt.
He said he gave Mr Ikwunado his car to repair the air conditioner on December 19, 2019. After several calls to his phone, Phils said the mechanic did not answer so he decided to visit the workshop.
“I asked fellow mechanics around and one said he saw when the mechanic was driving one way and he suspects that he might have been apprehended by the Police. My mind came down a bit after hearing this,” he said.
“I started visiting Police Stations in Port-Harcourt one after the other making enquiries until I got to Mile 1 Police Station and I saw my car parked in front of the Eagle Crack Police Division(a.k.a E-Crack). I felt relief thinking that the Police is my friend, I was totally wrong.
I presented myself quickly at the front desk to say that the car belongs to me and I want to know the reason it got to this place. I was shocked to be pointed a gun by one of the officers and I was asked to leave before I get shot. Wow… I wondered what crime I could have committed to present myself as the owner of my car. But I had to leave before I get shot.
“I got to my house and was drafting a strategy to attack this issue. It was exactly 2hours later when I noticed a knock on my gate. I opened my gate to see a young man who introduced himself as ‘Obinna the brother to Chima’.
Chima is the name of my mechanic. He asked me my name which I told him and that he was directed by his brother to meet me. So I asked him quickly if he knew the reason for the arrest. He said Chima told him that he and his boys were testing two cars, 3 boys in a Camry and 2 boys in my car, after doing some work on them. The traffic in Port-Harcourt around that time was terrible and they decided to drive one way.”
He named the other men as Victor Ogbonna, Osaze Friday, Ifeanyi Osuji, and Ifeanyi Onyekwere.
Phils said the police arrested them and asked for money for their release. Displeased with the amount the men were offering, he said the police changed the case to robbery, accusing the boys of robbing the two cars.
The journalist said that after the men were tortured, the youngest of them, a 19-year-old, began making false confession, saying the car was robbed.
Chima said he implored the services of his lawyer who happened to be the friend of Benson Adetuyi, commander of a team he called E-Crack, who admitted that the mechanic had been tortured to death.
He said the commander later charged the other men to court for alleged robbery.
“As I write this story, the remaining 4boys are in prison custody with wounds getting rotten and smelling. Chima that the police killed is tagged as “At Large”. The answer to my question came out when the families of the deceased visited the court to see a copy of the charge sheet confirming that the police wrote on it that the owner of the car, which is supposed to me, confirmed to them that his car was stolen as described. I have never made such a statement anywhere. My car was never robbed,” he said.
“At this moment in my life, I and my family members are very scared of the police. I wanted to send my brother out in my car, immediately I realized that his driver’s license is in process. I got scared and did not engage him anymore, because if police can take a life because of ‘one-way driving’, then it means they can take a life for not having driver’s license and many more.
“I came to know that the deceased mechanic got married just six months ago and that his wife is a few months pregnant.”
Police in the state have not made a statement in response to the allegations.
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