Residents of Aba, the commercial nerve of the state and its environs have decried what they described as the indiscriminate arrest of innocent citizens and intimidation by personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, Abia State Command.
Newsmen went round the World Bank, Abayi area of Osisioma Local Government Area two days after the invasion, burning and carting away of arms from the Abayi Divisional Police Station by yet-to-be identified hoodlums.
According to some of the residents of the World Bank area who didn’t want to be mentioned for fear of possible arrest by the police, economic and social activities in the area are at the lowest ebb as they alleged that they have been the primary target of the police.
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A resident who claimed to have escaped being caught in the web of police officers who patrol the area in a commercial bus alleged that the police have turned residents into an Automated Teller machine (ATM) as they (police) now extort people and made them to pay for their freedom.
“The type of indiscriminate arrest going here (World Bank), since the attack on Abayi Police Station, hasn’t been heard of.
“Police will pose as commercial bus operators and when the unsuspecting persons enter, they will park their car at a lonely place and threatened to take them to Umuahia as people who were part of the persons that attacked the Abayi police station.
“They made people to bail themselves if the person had the money with him and if the person doesn’t, they will take the person to the station where the person will pay a higher amount of money for bail the next day.
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“Others were made to go to the ATM to withdraw money and pay for their freedom.
“We have been made targets and casualties of a crime that we don’t even know who and how it was committed. Come here between 6-7pm, it will be just like a ghost land. We advised our relatives who were not able to come back before 6pm to sleep over in the town or look for a nearest hotel to sleep till the next morning.”
A resident of Hospital road who regained freedom Thursday while narrating his ordeal said “I went downstairs to buy food. After buying the food, I felt that I should add more meat to the food and I went downstairs to buy more meat.
“When I got to the place I bought the food, the woman said that the type of meat that I like has finished. I went to the popular Ama Hausa at Hospital road to buy Suya as an alternative. Just as I was arriving where I wanted to buy the meat, policemen in a Sienna car asked everyone to stand still, we stood still. They later asked us to sit on the main road, we did.
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“They later separated the Hausa people from us and ordered us into their waiting car. Attempts to explain to them that I only came to buy meat failed on deaf ears. Those who tried to question the legality of the arrest got the beating of their life. They were flogged with machete by the police operatives.
“It was this morning that my in-law came to bail me. I learnt that he paid N10, 000 for my bail. I learnt that others even paid higher. It depends on your bidding or negotiating power.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations of the Abia State Police Command, CSP Geoffrey Ogbonna denied such allegations.
The Nation
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