The operatives of the Nigeria Security
and Civil Defence Corps on Tuesday allegedly beat up three vendors,
seized newspapers and extorted cash from them.
Peter,
who spoke with our correspondent, stated that when he got back to the
secretariat around 2pm, he was in a hurry because he needed to reach out
to those he had supplied newspapers to in the morning before they close
from work.
According to him, as he
was entering the secretariat, one of the NSCDC men accosted him and
demanded to know why he was selling newspapers in the secretariat.
He
said, “He asked if I was aware that people should not hawk in the
secretariat. I made him realise that the order was not for the vendors
and that I have been selling papers in the secretariat for the past four
years.
“Immediately, he put his hands
in his pocket and brought out a teargas and sprayed it into my eyes. I
fell down. I was coughing profusely and asked him why he behaved like
that.
“On Tuesday (yesterday), I went
back to the secretariat where I sold the day’s newspapers. They did not
come after me until I crossed to the other side to have my breakfast.
“I
heard my brother and his friend shouting that I should run. I looked
back and saw many of them running after me with guns. I fled, but they
caught my brother and his friend. They beat them up for allowing me to
escape.
“I ran to a police checkpoint
at Atiku Abubakar Highway. One of the policemen asked me what happened
and I narrated my ordeal to him. He led me to where the NSCDC operatives
were.
“They ignored the policeman and one of them raised his gun to hit me. I dodged, but the gun hit the policeman.
“The
policeman asked me to call my boss, Uwe. He came with the chairman of
the Newspapers Distribution Agencies Association, Mr. Ezodom. They
rescued me.”
The other, Mr. Lucky
Peter, 20, said the NSCDC operatives seized him and his friend, John
Mark, for alerting Peter to their plan.
He stated that the operatives beat them with the butt of their guns and they collected undisclosed amount from them.
“The
NSCDC men tortured and beat us with the butt of their gun for making my
brother to escape them. My two eyes have been affected.
“They
took us to their station. They wrote undertaking notes and forced us to
sign them. The notes read that we attacked the operatives. We had no
option but to sign as they pointed guns at us,” he said.
The Public Relations Officer, NSCDC, Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Ime White, said he had yet to be briefed on the development.
He promised to get back to our correspondent as soon as he was able to get the details of what had happened.
