The scene of the incident
As many as seven personnel of the Nigeria Police Force have been captured in a video brutally assaulting a man in the middle of a road.
The 30-second clip is being circulated on Twitter by a Twitter user, Rinu Oduala (@SavvyRinu) who uploaded the clip on the micro-blogging site on March 18, and commented sarcastically on it, “The best police force in the world: The Nigerian Police.”
The officers were in their uniforms and armed.
One of the officers first gave the victim, believed to be a motorist, a hard kick on his stomach, prompting him to fall instantly on the ground, before all of them took turns to kick the man and stomp on him.
Two pick-up trucks belonging to the police were parked in the middle of the road, while the assault was going on.
The officers were obviously unaware that their action was being filmed.
The background voices (speaking in Igbo) in the clip expressed shock over the officers’ brutality.
“Why are they beating this man?” said the first voice in the clip.
“These people are wicked,” the second voice responded.
“That is a drunk.” “They want to break his leg.”
“What did this man do now?”
“You want to break the leg of a drunk that is going about his business?”
“Guy, Nigeria, guy.”
Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro), a lawyer and rights advocate, shared the clip on Twitter, and commented, “When people still ask why #EndSARS had to happen, this is part of it.”
“The Nigerian police will beat up a person senseless for being rude and then turn round to expect public sympathy. It’s not going to happen,” said Sogunro.
The Complaint Response Unit of the police responded to Sogunro and requested information about when and where the incident happened.