A commercial tricycle operator, Sodiq Waheed was on Thursday beaten black and blue by Police traffic wardens at the Oja-Oba area of Ilorin, Kwara State for allegedly refusing to give them bribe.
Waheed, who is of the Oja/Itaamo unit of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Ilorin, was said to have fainted due to the severe beating.
It was learnt that his colleagues reported the case at the police station at Oja-Oba and the victim was subsequently rushed to the General Hospital Ilorin by police patrol team.
When our reporter visited the victim at the NURTW Secretariat at Oja/Itaamoย ย Unit, Ilorin on Thursday, he was seen looking frail.
Narrating his ordeal he said: โI was stopped at the Oja-Oba roundabout by the traffic wardens who requested for money from me. When I refused to give them, they started dragging me towards the police station.
“I asked them what my offence was but they didn’t say anything. It was at that point that they descended on me; one of them kicked me on the groin and I fainted.”
Also speaking to this medium over the issue, the Chairman NURTW, Oja /Ita-Amo unit, Alhaji Ibraheem Ajia, said that he received calls on the fateful day that one of his members was being harassed by policemen and taken to the police station.
“I rushed down to that place and met him lying down. I was told that a police officer kicked him over a small issue and he fainted.
โWhen we got to ‘C’ Divisional police station Oja-Oba, the DPO in charge took a very good step by taking the boy to hospital in their patrol van.
“At the hospital we were told to get him saline water and he was administered with drips, with which he was revived,” he added.
He said the state Chairman of the Union, Alhaji Issa Ore was later at the police station to address the issue, which was resolved amicably.
He further said that the officer that kicked the tricycle operator in the groin was immediately detained.
When contacted on the matter, the state Police spokesman, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, who confirmed the incident, however, said he was yet to be fully briefed.
He promised to contact the police station for details and give feedback to this medium.
However, identities of the policemen involved could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.
