Uche Nwosu’s Burnt Campaign Vehicle, Resurfaces As Monarch Demands Compensation
The traditional ruler of Umeze Autonomous Community in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, HRM Èze Dr. Peter C. Opara, has asked the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Police Brutality and Related Extra-Judicial Killings sitting at the High Court in Owerri, for justice and compensation over the inhumane treatment meted on him by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.
In his petition filed on November 16, 2020, Eze Opara said he was arrested by men of SARS Command on November 18, 2018 over an alleged burning of a campaign vehicle belonging to Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, one of the candidates for the Imo State gubernatorial election in 2019. According to him, he was detained in police custody and was arraigned at the High Court the following day.
During cross-examination, Èze Opara denied being served a petition from the Imo State Government at the police station saying that the court proceedings went on for three months before he was discharged and acquired with the case closed.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the SARS officials at the State Police Command, Èze Opara said he was accused of being responsible for the alleged arson which occurred at Umahi Amike in Obi Mbieri Autonomous Community, to which he said he was in Port Harcourt at the time of the incident. He said he was subjected to inhumane treatments which had made him suffer partial stroke as a result.
He pleaded with the Commission to look into the matter and grant him justice and compensation for his ordeal.
In her statement, the judge presiding over the hearing, Hon. Justice Florence Duruoha-Igwe adjourned the case to January 12, 2021, for further hearing.
The case was one of the fourteen cases looked into by the Commission yesterday which saw thirteen of the cases adjourned till January 2021 and one case struck out.
