A man has narrated how he was assaulted by the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), which was disbanded in 2020 by President Buhari following the #EndSARS protests.
In an exclusive interview with The Nigerian Press Port Harcourt correspondent Kelechi Boms, the man named Godswill Menegbo alleged that the officers accused him of recording a brutality incident in which they were involved around Stadium Road.
According to him, he was physically assaulted and was later freed after a thorough search on his phone.
He said, “I left home this morning at 10 a.m to a crowd of people at a mechanic workshop by Stadium Road, Port Harcourt. When I got closer to the scene, I learned that someone had allegedly tried to snatch a car and members of the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police Force were present to arrest the culprit.
“I stood, as others, and watched the SARS officers beat up the cuffed young man mercilessly. They even shot at him twice but none of the bullets hit the target.
“While I observed the incident unfold into a gory sight, I received a notification on my phone and immediately brought out the device to check my messages.
“I hadn’t unlocked my device when one of the officers sighted the phone from a distance and suddenly reached to snatch it from me. When he approached me, he seized the phone saying that I was making videos of them.
“To my surprise, another one swiftly ripped my shirt, leaving me with only my trousers and then began hitting me with a serpentine belt without letting me explain myself.
“After being battered with injuries all over my body, the last straw that broke the camel’s back was to force me into a gutter and make me crawl from one end to the other.
“Despite subjecting me to that sordid condition, they threatened to shoot me if I don’t keep on grovelling in the gutter.
“After I had crawled through the dirt for long, having been exhausted, they ordered me to come out and unlock my phone which I quickly did. They went through the phone but didn’t find any videos of themselves in it. I was subsequently given back my phone and they got into their car and sped off.
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