'Police Beat Us, Smashed Our Phones Beyond Recognition': Two Lawyers Allege Assault For Recording Brutality Against Tricyclist

Two Abuja-based human rights lawyers, Barrister Ikechukwu Obasi and Chibuike Okoro, have accused officers of the Nigeria Police Force attached to the Garki Police Division of assaulting them, destroying their mobile phones, and harassing them for attempting to record the brutal treatment of a tricycle rider near the Apo Bridge area of the Federal Capital Territory.

Obasi told SaharaReporters that he and Okoro were attacked while returning from the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS), where they had honoured an invitation from the agency's Directorate of Legal Services.

According to Obasi, they had earlier visited the DSS, also known as State Security Service (SSS), over a petition they filed against police officers who allegedly harassed Okoro at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

He alleged that while driving back, they witnessed police officers, whom they identified as personnel from the Garki Division, allegedly assaulting a tricycle rider around the Apo Bridge axis.

Obasi said they decided to document the incident by recording the officers' actions while also questioning what they described as the unlawful treatment of the tricyclist.

"Some police officers identified as operating under Garki Division harassed us today (Thursday) while returning from the SSS headquarters where we honoured the appointment of the legal department in respect of the petition we wrote against officers that harassed this same colleague of mine at the Federal High Court, Abuja," Obasi said.

"In the process, they damaged our phones because we were trying to record a Gestapo-like torture and harassment of a tricyclist within that Apo Bridge axis."

Obasi alleged that the officers immediately turned on them after noticing they were recording the incident.

"As law officers trained to protect the rule of law, human rights and sanctity of humanity, we tried to record the vicious assault on the tricyclist in a bid to have concrete evidence of the untoward incident, while also accosting them for violating a Nigerian citizen because their conduct was sheer gangsterism and consequently, they charged at us, destroying our gadgets," he said.

He further alleged that both lawyers were physically assaulted and that their mobile phones were damaged beyond repair.

"We were beaten, and our phones were damaged beyond recognition," he stated.