Three policemen attached to the Satellite Police Division in
Lagos on Sunday night allegedly brutalised a pregnant
woman, Chika Elekwachi.
The operatives allegedly stripped the woman Unclad after
accusing her of resisting arrest. She was eight months
pregnant.
The victim has since been delivered of a premature baby.
But the police authorities said the operatives that carried out
the assault have been nabbed and are in detention.
She was allegedly assaulted before she was dragged to the
police station. Her family members later rushed her to Safe
Hands Hospital, Old Ojo Road, Amuwo, Lagos, after she
allegedly passed out at the station.
Chika told the reporters on her hospital bed that about 8pm
on Sunday, she left two of her kids at home and was heading
to a shop at Agboju, in Oriade Local Council Development
Area (LCDA) to buy things for the house.
“I suddenly noticed a bus coming behind me. The bus
obstructed me and one of the occupants came out, pointed a
gun at me and shouted that I should park. He threatened to
shoot if I didn’t park.
“When I discovered that they were policemen, I tried to
explain to them that I wanted to park my car, so that I could
enter the shop. This incident happened at Pako Bus Stop
along Ojo Road where there were so many tankers and lorries
parked indiscriminately.
“I begged the one that was putting on a black T-shirt to
allow me to go, as I was pregnant. Then the next thing was,
he called me a prostitute. I was angry and reminded him that
I am a married woman with two kids. I warned him not to
call me a prostitute again. But the policeman dragged me
down from the car, even as passers-by and my friend were
begging him to let me go.
“While I was screaming for help, saying, ‘I am not a thief,’
they tore my trousers. I was not putting on any underwear, so
they stripped me Unclad. They were dragging me, saying I
must enter their vehicle, but I refused. They dragged me on
the road, but I insisted that I would go with them in my car.
In the process, my legs and my stomach were bruised,” she
said.
She said she was eventually bundled into the police vehicle
and taken to the station, even in her virtually Unclad state.
“On getting to the police station, I pleaded with them to allow
me get a cloth from the shop. I was begging them so that I
could meet any woman nearby to give me a wrapper because
I was Unclad. People around were asking me what happened,
and I replied that the policemen did that to me, even though
I’m not a thief. Because, with the way I was treated, one
could mistake me for a thief. I had to bite one of the
policemen on the back.
“I then entered one provision store near the station where I
met a woman who gave me this gown. My phone was in my
vehicle and I told the police officers that they should allow me
call my people to inform them that I was at the station, but
they refused. They said I must be put in the cell. I was
running around, trying to get a phone, but no one would give
me their phone because they thought I was a mad woman.
They were just looking at me. I then saw a young girl, and I
spoke to her in Igbo, telling her I was not a thief. She was the
one that gave me her phone and I called my sister, because
her number was the one I could easily recall. I told her what
was happening, so she came with her husband that night and
met me at the police station. They were asking me what
happened, but her husband said we had to find those who
assaulted me. So, we went into the police station and met the
Divisional Crime Officer (DCO). He told us to explain what
happened, but as I was talking, I felt dizzy and passed out,”
she said.
Her sister, Favour Ifebuzor, explained that she rushed down to
the police station as soon as she got the distress call from
her sister.
“When my husband and I arrived at the scene, I saw my
younger sister sitting on a pavement, looking weak. So we
took her into the station to find out what happened. My sister
told me that she was feeling weak and dizzy, but the
policemen rudely told her to stand up and explain what
happened. As she tried to explain, the man at the counter
was saying, “why don’t you have respect for an officer in
uniform? Why did you slap a policeman?” My sister said it
was when the policeman forcefully held her cloth and dragged
her that she did that, because it’s lawful for one to defend
oneself from danger. So, as they were forcefully quizzing her,
I told the policeman that she was weak and could slump.
“My sister was also whispering to me that she was feeling
weak. So she fell on the ground. And she was crying, saying
“O my baby, my baby.” Then she started foaming in the
mouth. The policemen there were saying, “she is pretending.
Let her stay there, she is not serious.” They were just
watching, including the DCO. My husband was saying, “You
people have killed someone’s wife and mother. Take her. She
is your responsibility.” My husband was dragging me so that
we could go, but I told him to have patience. I said, let me
get some water, because my sister was dying. I went to one
shop and bought a sachet of water, came back and started
pouring it on my sister’s head and body, but she was not
responding. Instead, her tongue was coming out, foaming.
“I was so scared because her stomach protruded straight and
her body was getting cold. I had to beg one man to help me
look for a vehicle. When he got the vehicle, I told the
policemen to help me put her in the vehicle, but they were
just looking at me. I was confused. The driver of the vehicle
and the man that went to get him were the ones that helped
me put her in the car. The biscuits I bought for my children
and my phone, I didn’t even know where I kept them. It was
when they put her in the vehicle that I remembered that my
phone was on the counter at the station, and I went to the
counter and picked my phone.
“I then told the policemen that I was taking her to the
hospital, and that if anything happened to her, I would hold
them responsible. The vehicle had already left. They took her
to Safe Hands Hospital, and my husband and I walked to the
hospital. When we got here, the doctor told us she was going
into labour, and that we needed to move her to the General
Hospital. I was confused. Then I called my sister who also
came with her husband. But we heard the policeman who had
come there telling the doctor that she was okay. The
policeman told the doctor: “She’s okay now. You will write
everything that she is okay, and that nobody beat her.” So
the doctor certified her okay, and that she was not in labour
again, that he had put everything in order. But this morning,
she went into labour again,” Favour told the reporters.
At the hospital, the doctor on duty, Okoawo Innocent, who
spoke on behalf of the management, admitted that Chika was
rushed into the hospital half conscious. He said all necessary
tests were carried out, noting that the tests showed that the
baby was intact. He, however, said that the victim would be
kept under observation.
But the doctor’s assertion was proved wrong, as Chika soon
started bleeding. To save her life and that of the baby, she
was wheeled into the theatre where the baby was forced out
of her. The baby, it was gathered, is alive but in an incubator.
Confirming the incident, Lagos State Police Command
spokesman, Kenneth Nwosu, a deputy superintendent of
police (DSP), assured that investigation was ongoing to
ascertain what actually transpired. He said the suspected
policemen had been arrested and were in detention, adding
that they would be prosecuted according to the law guiding
the force.