A Nigerian lady has narrated how she was allegedly manhandled by a police officer for simply discussing Saturday’s #OccupyLekkiTollGate Protest in Lagos.
In a video shared on her Twitter handle, @Stargious, the lady said she was in a commercial bus with a friend talking about how police officers badly treated protesters arrested at Lekki tollgate; unknown to them that an officer was in the bus.
According to her, immediately her friend alighted from the bus, she was apprehended by the officer who said the two of them were insulting the Nigeria Police Force.
She said the police officer called other colleagues at the nearby bus stop to join in and they further harassed them.
She said, “This happened today, a police officer said we were insulting him earlier this evening because we were talking about the protests and how @mrmacaronii (Comedian, Debo Adebayo) and others have been treated badly by the @PoliceNG. We didn’t even realise he was on the same bus till my friend got down and he held her and said we would have to come down and follow him to the station for just talking (since when did they take away our freedom of speech?).
Held her and said we would have to come down and follow him to the station for just talking (since when did they take away our freedom of speech?)
This man called other police officers standing at the Maryland busstop and they all came around to further harass us.— Slim Bulletð¯ #Endsars (@Stargious) February 13, 2021
“This man called other police officers standing at the Maryland bus stop and they all came around to further harass us. He was going to break my phone so I stopped recording, and we literally had to apologise for talking.
“In Nigeria, we had to apologise for just talking about the #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest, we were not even actively involved. May God strengthen all Nigerians.”
She added that bystanders and other passengers of the bus were the ones who begged the police officers and stopped them from taking the ladies to the cell.
According to her, the police officers were more than 10.
Reacting to the development, however, the Complaint Response Unit of the Nigerian Police Force said the force was looking into the issue.
“PoliceNG_CRU has taken necessary action regarding the complaint,” it said in a response to the tweet in the comment section.
SaharaReporters had reported how protesters arrested at the Lekki tollgate for participating in the #OccupyLekkiTollGate peaceful demonstration were molested by the police.
Nigerians had condemned the assault and harassment of protesters by the police after those arrested were seen packed inside a truck half-naked in a viral video.
The Lagos State Police Command has since promised to investigate the matter.
