A 500-level part-time Business Administration student of the Lagos State
University is battling with a broken arm and injuries allegedly inflicted on
her face by operatives of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and
Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit.
The student,
28-year-old Sewuese Matthew, was reportedly battered for using her foster
sister’s mobile phone to video the operation of the officials on Durosimi-Etti
Drive, in the Lekki Phase 1 area of the state.
The foster sister, Lilian Ifemeludike, told PUNCH Metro that she was also assaulted by the task force
men.
It was
learnt that Ifemeludike and Matthew had gone to repair a punctured tyre at a
vulcaniser’s stand on the estate when a team of enforcement agents stormed the
area, seizing the machine for allegedly causing environmental nuisance.
Our
correspondent gathered that the vulcanizer begged the officials, while
Ifemeludike also urged the officials to allow him to repair the tyre.
Matthew, in
a chat with PUNCH Metro
on Monday, said she decided to record with the phone when the scene turned
rowdy, but was caught by an operative, who allegedly punched her in the face.
She said
other officials joined in the assault, pummeling her and Ifemeludike and later
seizing the phone.
The student
said, “On Wednesday, February 8, my sister and I were going out of the estate
in her car, when the car had a flat tyre. While we were at the vulcanizer’s
place trying to fix the tyre, the task force officials stormed the area and
packed wares displayed by the roadside.
“There was
chaos and some people were filming what was happening. I also tried to do so
while my sister was pleading with them. A tall policeman among them walked up
to me, snatched the phone and started punching me.
“I ran to my
sister, crying. He smashed the phone on the ground and she picked it. The
officer and other policemen chased her and started hitting her until they
collected the phone from her. I rushed there and pleaded with them to leave
her. They punched me in the mouth, face and neck. I also broke my hand.”
Matthew
stated that they followed the officials to the task force office in Oshodi and
reported the incident to the task force Chairman, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi, who
condemned the assault.
“But when
the officials appeared before the chairman, they told him a different story,
saying we insulted them. The chairman then vowed to deal with us and we were
detained. The next morning, they charged us to court in Ogba. I could not meet
up my bail conditions that day, so I was taken to the Kirikiri Prison without
my injuries being treated. I was released on Friday when the bail was perfected
and I went to the Lagos Island General Hospital for treatment,” she added.
Ifemeludike,
a United Nations Women Empowerment champion, said the officials’ conduct was a
breach of the enforcement ethics, saying her phone, a Samsung Galaxy S7, had
yet to be released.
“What pained
me most was the fact that they punched my sister in the eye. They could have
arrested her if they felt she had done something wrong.
“Security
operatives need to know when to use force and understand that they are dealing
with humans. We were wrongly charged to court and my sister is still
traumatised by what she went through in Kirikiri,” she said.
The Public
Relations Officer, National Association of Nigerian Students, Idowu Odebunmi,
said the association would hold a protest against the alleged assault on
February 28.
“Police
abuse remains one of the most serious human rights violations in the world.
There have been several reports of unjustified shootings, unlawful arrests,
extortion, unlawful killings and rough treatment meted out to students, with
the most recent being an unjustifiable attack unleashed on one of our female
students, Sewuese Matthew,” he added.
The
spokesperson for the task force, Taofiq Adebayo, stated that videoing
contravened the law of the agency, adding that the phone was being kept as an
exhibit.
He, however,
denied that the women were assaulted by the officials.
He said, “No
responsible and responsive government will allow activities that contradict the
state environmental law to go on. In the course of enforcing the law on the
walkway on the estate, the machine of a vulcaniser was impounded. He had been
warned several times not to position his machine by the roadside.
“The ladies
in question were not directly involved in the matter. But because they wanted
to gauge the tyre, they intervened. One of them started filming with a phone.
In enforcement, we don’t allow such. She was saying all sorts of things against
the chairman and the state governor.
“The case is
now in court and the phone is still with the court as an exhibit. They were
never assaulted. Members of the public don’t have the right to record
enforcement agents performing their lawful duties without the permission of the
authority.”
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