By Sam Esiaba Jnr
MEN of the Police Mobile Force (MOPOL 55 Squadron), Osisioma Ngwa, in Abia State, have brutalized a resident of the Unity Garden Estate, Mr. Sampson Nwaogu and his family over a quit notice served on the occupants of the estate.
The MOPOL 55 Squadron had issued a four-day eviction notice to all residents of the estate with a caveat to forcefully eject anyone who fails to comply with the notice.
Though the estate serves as a base for the MOPOL 55 Squadron, civilians occupy a larger part of it. The Squadron which was formerly sited at Nsulu Games Village in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of the State, was relocated to the estate at the height of the kidnapping incidents which swept through Aba and environs in 2009.
Available information indicated that Nwaogu, one of the civilian occupants, had on March 4, 2021 obtained an interim injunction restraining the MOPOL 55 Squadron, the State Police Command and the State Police Commissioner, Mrs. Janet Agbede from ejecting residents from the estate.
However, Eastern Voice gathered that contrary to the existing court order, policemen operating on the orders of the Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Moses Aduroja, the second in command at the Squadron, allegedly assaulted and forcefully ejected residents from the estate including Nwaogu and his family.
Narrating his ordeal to Eastern Voice, Nwaogu claimed that the policemen stormed his residence at the estate as early as 5am, smashed the doors and pounced on him and his family members, beating them with whips and gun butts. He said he was left with bruises all over his body.
“The police stormed my apartment at 5am. I was praying and I heard noise. They forced themselves inside my house. I came out; asking them what was happening, the next thing I saw was beating. They flogged me mercilessly; they even hit my wife and children. They dragged and threw me on the ground, tore my clothes, took all my property away and sprayed teargas on my family, I reminded them that the matter is in court, but they began beating me more and more,” he asserted.
Some residents of the estate condemned the eviction order and lamented that they spent huge sums of money to renovate the buildings. They urged the police authorities to reconsider their actions.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abia State Command, Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna, a Superintendent of Police (SP) said the command was not aware of any quit notice from MOPOL 55 served on the residents of the estate.
When Eastern Voice visited Aduroja to get his reaction following the alleged assault on Nwogu, he explained that he doesn’t need any court order to eject anyone he suspects to pose a danger to the police.
Asked how he identified an illegal occupant since he does not have any authorization from court, Abia Police Command or the estate managers, he accused most of the residents of the estate of being criminals.
Contacted, Managing Director, Abia State Housing and Property Development Corporation, owners of the estate, Architect Alozie Nwankwo, said that they were shocked by reports of eviction of residents of the estate.
His words: “We have not received any official complaint from any resident of that estate including the police. Nothing has been communicated to us. We have not given anybody permission from the office to quit anybody and we are not aware of any eviction.”
ENDS
*There is need to confirm the exact spelling of the complainant’s name (nwaogu or Nwogu) as well as the correct rank of the PPRO
