According to Cyrus Onu, the lawyer for the female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Jennifer Elobor, the local security agents who assaulted her in Anambra State had threatened to “rape and kill” her for speaking out during the incident.
“They [security agents] were banging the door, and Jennifer was trying to open the door, and they just kicked the door, and it almost hit their face.
“Most of them were masked in mufti with guns, so you can imagine how scared the kids [corps members] were.
“They [security agents] didn’t give any identification. They just said, ‘Come down, come down. You’re all thieves! You’re all ‘Yahoo’ people!’
“When they tried to drag them downstairs, Jennifer was insisting that if they must take them anywhere, they should allow them [corps members] to call their LGI [Local Government Inspector] because the corps members did not know who the operatives were,” the lawyer said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday.
“That was when they started pouncing on her. They made derogatory comments, asking her who gave her the right as a lady to speak to them anyhow. They started beating her.
“She asked them to allow her to change into something appropriate, and they said, ‘That thing you’re trying to cover, we’ll see it today. We’ll beat you up, we’ll rape you, kill you, and dump you, and nobody can say anything,” Onu added.
Read Also:NYSC Reacts To Assault On Corps Member In Anambra
The lawyer also claimed that the Anambra security agents who assaulted her also threatened to kill her colleagues for trying to defend her.
The assault, which was captured in a viral video, showed armed operatives of the Operation ‘Udo Ga-Achi,’ also known as the Agunechemba Vigilante Group, beating Elobor and tearing her clothes after storming the corps members’ apartment in the Oba community.
The Anambra State Government, through its Special Adviser on Community Security, Ken Emeakayi, condemned the assault and confirmed that the perpetrators had been arrested and suspended, with their final evaluation still in process.
“They are suspended because when a case has been established against someone, you arrest the person, then hand him over to the police.
“Now, since they were not readily prepared for persecution, which will be carried out by the police, they are now undergoing other disciplinary measures within our system, pending the final evaluation of the matter, whether they are going to court or not going to court as it relates to the victim,” he had said.
But the lawyer said the Anambra governor’s aide’s comment on the incident was unacceptable.
The victims’ lawyer said, “Ken was alleging that the lady was not forthcoming, and that was why they couldn’t go on with the investigation. That’s not true. In fact, when they got to the secretariat, those people were still firing guns in the air to intimidate them.
“It was one of the local inspectors who came from the NYSC that told them to allow them [corps members] to go; that was how they let them go.
“If not for the fact that it [the incident] came to the public. All of those things they are saying are not true. They are not prepared to prosecute; they are not going to prosecute.
“And, of course, that is not the only redress our clients are seeking. There must be consequences for bad behaviour, and they [the perpetrators] will pay damages. My clients are seeking compensatory damages, and they will have to pay.
“We’ve since written a petition to the government of Anambra State demanding that those persons be prosecuted, and we will follow up to also ensure compensatory damages.”
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