Civil Defence personnel, hunters beat up senior police officer in Bauchi
Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
A personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC) and some local hunters have beaten and injured the 2iC, Azare Area Command of the Nigeria Police Force, Bauchi State Headquarters, Superintendent of Police, Suleiman Umar.
The security personnel are attached to the Senior Special Assistant to the Bauchi State Governor on Security, Alhaji Umar Shayi.
The NSCDC personnel, ASC Hassan Usman, allegedly led the team of Baushe Hunters in the state to perpetrate the act on the Senior Police Officer.
In a telephone interview with our Correspondent, SP Umar, said he was brutalized by the security team without any provocation.
“It happened on Saturday, 14th January, 2023, I went to drop my children at school and was returning and heading towards our family house to greet them around the Emir’s Palace roundabout. And while I was driving, I got to this place, there was a Hilux Van belonging to Baushe Hunters which parked on the middle of the road, they were trying to get at a Keke NAPEP driver who did a reckless driving in front of them.
“So, since I was behind them and had no business with them, I drove past them and immediately I did that, they started abusing me. So I asked them why they were abusing me and I drove and when I got close to the roundabout close to the Emir’s Palace, I got down and was about to enter our family house which is there,” he said.
He narrated further that: “Suddenly, they parked close to me, alighted from their vehicle and started coming towards me. Immediately they got me, the leader of their team, a personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp, one ASC Hassan Usman, brought out a cable and started flogging me with it.
“I told him, don’t beat me, I’m a Superintendent of Police, what have I done to you,? but he refused to stop. He was in uniform and was with some men of Baushe Hunters. In fact, one of the hunters told him to stop saying that he knows me as a Police Officer, but that too did not pay off, even though my gun was in my hand.
“They descended on me and kept beating and I even fell on the ground but they kept on beating me. The people around tried to stop them telling them I was a Police man but he didn’t listen.
‘It was when people started gathering at the scene that they entered their vehicle and sped off. Although I was on mufti, they saw my uniform in my car and I tried showing them my identity card and I was with my gun in my hand, but they just wouldn’t listen.
“He is the only security personnel among them and he was the first that started beating me with the cable, and they wounded me on my head and my face. They used their shoes to march me while I was on the ground. They broke one of my phones.”
He said that after they left, a Policeman who was at the scene in mufti took him to the A’ Division where he reported the incident there and was taken to the Emergency Unit of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital for treatment.
The 2iC said all he was after was justice for what was done to him by the security team led by the NSCDC personnel.
He said: “I have reported the incident at the A’ Division and they said they will commence investigation and the signal would be sent to the Police Headquarters for action. All I want is justice.
“They gave me some injections and placed me on medication. As I speak with you, I am currently lying down and I am in pains. This is very unfortunate and all I want is justice.
“This is an act of illiteracy, I told you that I am a Superintendent of Police, I showed you my ID Card, you saw my uniform in my car, and saw my gun but yet, you treated me this way.”
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Police Command, Ahmed Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.
He said that the Commissioner of Police, Aminu Alhassan, had ordered for an immediate investigation into the incident.
“We received a complaint of criminal conspiracy and assault, thuggery and causing serious hurt on the 14th of January, 2023, at about 1.pm, from SP Suleiman Umar.
“The Commissioner of Police has directed that a discreet investigation be carried out and those found wanting should be made to face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
In a reaction, the NSCDC Bauchi State Command, described the incident as unfortunate but denied that its personnel was involved in the alleged beating and injuring of the Police Officer.
Its Public Relations Officer, Ibrahim Gabdo explained that the personnel of the Command is attached to the SSA, Security to the Governor, Umar Shayi alongside members of the Vigilantes.
He said: “While going for a programme at the Stadium on Saturday, a commercial motorcyclist tried to obstruct a convoy and the vigilantes stopped him from doing so for security reasons.
“A man in mufti who was later identified as a Police officer stopped to question what was happening, it was at that point that there was an attempt on him by the vigilantes; but it was not from our personnel as erroneously suggested.”
Gabdo, however, said that the issue had been amicably resolved during a meeting between the leadership of the two agencies in line with inter-agency collaboration.
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