Posted by Reporters in Ebonyi State have complained that members of the Crack Squad of the Ebonyi State Police Command have repeatedly assaulted, unlawfully arrested, and detained them.
However, after recounting their ordeals to newsmen in Abakaliki, journalists Benjamin Nworie, a state correspondent for ThisDay, and Obinna Ogbonnaya, a reporter for Leadership publications, petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, for assistance.
Vice Chairman of the Ebonyi State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Benjamin Nworie has claimed in separate accounts that he was wrongfully arrested, held, and extorted by the aforementioned operatives.
According to Nworie, he and his three companions were sitting in a coffee shop when they were suddenly surrounded by members of the Crack Squad from the Ebonyi State Police Command.
He said that his attempts to identify himself and his companions were fruitless because they were taken straight to the state police headquarters.
On Thursday, October 19, 2023, at approximately 7:3O p.m., I went to a friend’s store on the always bustling G-hostel road. Men from the Crack Squad saw me and my three companions sitting down, pulled over, surrounded us, took our phones, and bundled us into two hilus vans before driving us to the Ebonyi Police Command headquarters.
As soon as they arrived at the Crack Squad’s headquarters, “we were forcefully ordered to remove our clothes and pushed inside the smelling Cell containing 32 arrested persons,” he said.
It was a sad experience for me last night,” Ogbonnaya Obinna, regional director of Leadership newspaper, stated. He told me where to park, talked to me like I was nobody, and wouldn’t listen to any of my explanations, all while being no older than my youngest child. Even after I presented my identification,” he complained.
When asked for comment, Ebonyi State Police Command spokesperson SP. Onome Onovwakpoyeya said, “Concerning the journalist, (referring to Benjamin Nworie), he could not identify himself during a raid, and as such, was taken to the headquarters, but when the NUJ chairman came to identify him, he was allowed to go.”