A police
officer identified as Corporal Yusuf Ibrahim has been accused of assaulting and
molesting a final year female student of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba
(AAUA) in Ondo State.
The lady,
Omoromoke Comfort Adekunle, said Corporal Ibrahim, whose police number is
364909, attacked her at a security checkpoint in Ago-yeye community along
Owo/Akungba road.
Many
students who spoke to SR described the police officer as a notorious extorter
who is assigned to the ‘A Division’ of the Owo Divisional Police in Ondo State.
According to
Ms. Adekunle, the officer attacked her for spurning his demands for a bribe,
adding that Cpl. Ibrahim was irate that she had recently told him she was
opposed to bribery.
Ms.
Adekunle, who suffered severe bodily injury in the assault, described her
ordeal in a statement obtained on Tuesday in Akure, the capital of Ondo State.
In the
statement, the final year student explained that she was in a vehicle headed
for Akungba to submit her academic project at Adekunle Ajasin University
Akungba Akoko (AAUA) when Mr. Ibrahim ordered the vehicle to stop at a
checkpoint at Ago-yeye on the Owo/Akunga road.
She said
Corporal Ibrahim demanded that the driver pay a N50 bribe. She wrote that the
driver, who did not have a N50 note, gave the police officer N500, expecting to
receive change of N450. Instead, “the police officer went away with the money
for more than five minutes without returning the change,” Ms. Adekunle wrote.
According to
her, the police officer’s action infuriated the passengers who were losing
patience with his behavior. She wrote that she and other passengers “became
impatient with the policeman and even the driver for giving [a] bribe and
wasting [their] time,” adding that rain was about to fall and she was anxious
to get to the university to submit her academic assignment.
Ms. Adekunle
stated that the driver went to the police officer to ask for change of N450.
Instead of giving the change, Mr. Ibrahim walked to the vehicle and began
rebuking and threatening passengers for criticizing him as a police officer.
According to
Ms. Adekunle, as the passengers did not utter a word to him, the furious
officer pointed to her “and asked if I was deaf or dumb because he was talking
to us and we were not responding.” She said the officer hurled abuses at her
and accused her of being a prostitute.
She added
that the unruly officer at one point opened the front door of the vehicle,
dragged her out, and punched her on her neck and mouth, causing her to bleed
heavily from the nose.
Ms. Adekunle
stated that the officer tore her blue and white-striped gown and, in the
presence of other passengers, began to handle her bre*sts and to lewdly touch
other parts of her body in the guise of searching her. She said her fellow
passengers cried for help as she underwent her ordeal at the hands of Mr. Ibrahim.
She stated
that Corporal Ibrahim seized her iPhone 7, which rang as he touched her, adding
that, when she demanded for the phone, the officer pulled his gun and
threatened to shoot her as well as the driver who was pleading with him to stop
the molestation.
Ms.
Adekunle’s statement said the officer “even threatened to burn our vehicle
(bus) into ashes and that nothing would happen,” adding that the officer was
eventually pacified by another transporter who pleaded with Mr. Ibrahim “to
drop his gun to avoid killing us like animals.”
She said the
officer threatened to spray teargas on her, and then punched her on the chest
and neck.
“I fainted
in the process but I was later revived by other passengers some minutes after,”
wrote the student. “My mouth was full of blood and I was taken to a hospital
where I received treatment and [got] placed on drugs due to the heavy attack,”
she further recounted.
The victim’s
lawyer, Charles Titiloye, urged the Commissioner of Police to investigate the
assault and to prosecute the accused police officer. Speaking to our correspondent,
Mr. Titiloye said the randy police officer was apparently drunk when he
assaulted his client.
He stated
that the officer’s punch on Ms. Adekunle chest had left the student “terribly
weak and in pain,” adding that the assaulted student continued to receive
treatment and was put on drugs after being discharged from the hospital.
“Her health
has since deteriorated as a result of the incident, so we are urging the Police
Commissioner in Ondo State to fully investigate this incident and prosecute the
said officer for the assault on our client,” Mr. Titiloye said.
A source at
Ondo state Police Command confirmed that the office of the Commissioner of
Police had received the petition submitted by Ms. Adekunle’s lawyer. He added
that Corporal Ibrahim had been summoned to appear at the Akure headquarters of
the police command for interrogation.
“I’m sure
the commissioner will be having a meeting with the lawyer and the two parties
involved in this case sometime this week,” the source said.
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