An Abuja-based businessman, Kenneth Odeh, has filed a complaint with the Inspector General of Police, seeking justice after allegedly being brutally assaulted by three police officers.
Odeh, an engineer residing in Mabglobal Estate, near the Public Service Institute in Abuja, reported that he was violently attacked and severely injured by the officers—identified as Deputy Superintendent of Police Isa Momoh, along with officers Itodo and Segun—on Saturday, August 17, under the EFAP Metropolitan Bridge in Abuja. According to Odeh, the attack occurred without any lawful justification.
In a petition dated August 18 and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Odeh described the ordeal in which he sustained multiple injuries to his head and other parts of his body.
He urged the police leadership to thoroughly investigate the incident, which also included his unlawful detention at the Galadinmawa police station. This station is notorious for detaining individuals in a 40-foot container lacking basic amenities such as water, windows, and toilets.
Beyond the physical harm inflicted, Odeh reported that the officers caused him to lose personal items during the assault, including his wallet containing £1,000, a cap, a power bank, and a Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 phone, which was damaged during the altercation.
Odeh recounted that the incident began when the officers asked him to open the trunk of his car, to which he complied.
They then requested to see his car’s documents, which he provided, noting that they were valid until November of this year. Despite his compliance, the officers demanded that he accompany them to their office in Galadinmawa, where the situation escalated.
In the document signed by the Principal Partner of Graham Ochogwu of Risenarch Attorneys, on behalf of Odeh, they wrote: “They hit him on the face and other parts of his body with the butt of their guns and sticks. It was then that he realised that they were drunk. They collected his car keys at gun point and threatened to waste him. They bundled him into a Hilux van and took him to Galadinma police station. In the process of manhandling our client without provocation, he lost his wallet containing 1000 pounds, a cap, a 40,000 Mah power bank and his Samsung Glaxy Fold 3 phone’ screen was smashed.
“Upon arriving at the police station, he was locked up with about 10 people (most of them have been there for an upward of two months) in a container without ventilation with a bucket toilet for over two hours. It took the intervention of a retired military officer before he was released but as of the time of writing this petition his car was still being detained in spite every plea for it to be released.
“Our client proceeded to the hospital where he did series of medical tests and his injuries were treated. Attached herein is a receipt for the medical report which is being processed at the hospital.
As a result of the assaults and threats, he has been experiencing severe anxiety, physical pain and he fears for his safety and well-being.
“We therefore, respectfully request your highly esteemed office to initiate a thorough investigation into this matter and take necessary disciplinary action against DSP Isa Momoh, Mr Itodo and Mr. Segun and the back-up team that perpetrated this barbaric assault on our client and for his car, his wallet containing money and other properties that got missing to be returned to him,” the citizen wrote.