Group Insists Detained Activist Allegedly Assaulted Delta DPO

A group, Warri Urban Security Network (WUSN), has insisted that a self-styled Human Rights activist, one Prince Harrison Gwamnishu currently under detention actually assaulted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) ‘C Division’, Asaba, CSP Anietie Eyoh.

The group said that it was an affront for the activist to take laws into his hand by attacking a constituted authority in a matter that was already being handled by the police, insisting that he must be made to face justice to serve as deterrent.

In a report BigPen Online sourced from PUNCH, Gwamnishu who is the Director General of a non-governmental organisation, Behind Bars Initiative (BBI), which provides free legal service to prisoners and victims of human rights abuse, claimed that he was a victim of persecution.

According to the report, a clip of the 29-year-old crying out for help from a police cell went viral on Sunday as members of the group alleged that he was being brutalised.

A member of the group, Gracious Ihunwo, who recorded the video, said three other members of the group were also beaten up by the police.

“Policemen, led by CSP Eyoh of Head Bridge, C Division, beat up the DG and three of our members in the station. We went for an intervention and they did not even allow him to talk,” she said in a post on the Facebook page of the group on Saturday.

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Ihunwo, who later spoke to PUNCH Metro, said she had followed Gwamnishu to the station for the release of a suspect.

She said, “A lady came to meet us that her brother was arrested by the police during a raid on their area. So, my boss (Gwamnishu), I and three others, went to the police station to know if the offence was bailable.

“We never knew that the DPO at the station was the one involved in the torture and death of a 17-year-old boy in Warri. My boss handled the case; the DPO was transferred to Asaba over the incident.

“My boss and two others went into the station. I was not allowed to go inside. When we got to the station, the DPO saw my boss and said, ‘You, Harrison, again?” Immediately, he slapped my boss. As he was crying and begging for help, I made a video of the incident as evidence because I knew they would deny it. The Divisional Crime Officer came out, slapped me and called me a bastard. The DCO attempted to take my phone, but I refused.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Mustapha, said Gwamnishu  assaulted the Divisional Police Officer, C Division, CSP Eyoh Anietie.

Corroborating the police commissioner, the Warri Urban Security Network while condemning the reported assault in a statement issued in Tuesday, warned that any attempt to sweep the incident under the carpet and allow the culprit go unpunished would be counter productive to the police force as any hoodlum can just walk into any police station and beat up senior officers who declined to release suspects to him.

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Recalling the incident at ‘C Division’ police station, Cable Points, Asaba, on Saturday the group alleged that the self imposed Human Rights activist, One Prince Harrison Gwamnishu, walked into the office of the DPO, CSP Eyoh and went violent after his request for the release of a self confessed cultist that was being detained was refused by the police authority.

The statement signed by Chief Alfred Akabueze and Mr. Harrison Odjegba, the Chairman and Secretary respectively, described the act as barbaric, cruel and to ridicule a highly placed officer and constituted authority.

They requested that the matter be charged to court as soon as possible in order to allow for justice.

According to the group, “It is still beyond our comprehension to fathom the rationale behind the action of an individual who claimed to be a Right Activist to walk into a police station and descended on the DPO. Beating and tearing his dress for refusing to release to him a cultist who had admitted his crime and waiting to be charge to court.

“Besides, since this incident came to our notice, we have taking pains to carryout our independent research on the attacker, Prince Harrison Gwamnishu and discovered that his human rights group, “Behind Bar Initiatives” (BBI)  was not a registered body, as it was formed by him to witch hunt the police force while serving a 4-year jail term for stealing.

“It was hinged on this discovery that we demand answers to the following questions; what is the moral justification for such an action? Who are the powerful and influential forces behind this impostor that gave him the courage to attack a police officer? And why is the person of CSP Anietie Eyoh, a distinguished officer of the law, the target?

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“We called on the Delta state Police Commissioner, CP Muhammad Mustafa, to ensure that this matter is not covered up by external influence, as we will be following up on the case to its logical conclusion by attending all the court proceedings till judgment is delivered and enforced”, the group said.