BY ROSEMARY NWAEBUNI
The Executive Director of International Press Centre (IPC), Comrade Lanre Arogundade has urged the Inspector General of Police to commence immediate investigation and punishment of police officers who attacked Vanguard Newspaper reporter penultimate Friday, October 23, 2020 at Ovwian-Aladja Police Station, Udu Local Government Area, Delta State.
Arogundade who stated this in a press release noted that the Vanguard Newspaper reporter, Barr. Akpokona Omafuaire, was attacked and brutalized by overzealous men of the police force led by Sergeant Godspower while on official assignment during the 48-hours curfew imposed by the Delta State Governor to stem wanton violence which erupted from the ENDSARS protests.
Akpokona, who is also a lawyer, currently undergoing his Masters in Law, had gone to identify himself with the police and intimate them on his official engagement, but rather than listen to him, the overzealous police officers at Oviwian-Aladja Police Station, Udu Local Government Area, Delta State, battered Omafuaire, cutting and whipping him with cutlass and butt of gun.
While revealing that his vehicle was not left out as other officers led by Oghenekaro used every available weapon to destroy it, the centre condemned in totality the brutality on the Vanguard journalist in a bid to carry out an official assignment and called for immediate investigation and punishment on all the officers involved.
The statement read in parts, “IPC is urgently calling for the investigation on this incident and many others perpetrated by police officers. It is crucial to ensure that the culprits are punished in accordance with the provisions of the law”.
Arogundade further urged the Inspector General of Police to, as a matter of urgency, intervene and give firm instructions to officers and men of the Police Force to stop assaulting journalists in the country
