A mother of three, Nkemakolam Nnamani, has been left disfigured after she was allegedly brutalized with a pestle by officials of the Special Anti-Touting Squad for cautioning them over their “misconduct” at Upper Iweka, near Onitsha bridge, Anambra.
The nursing mother claimed she was beaten and publicly humiliated for pleading with the squad to have mercy on an elderly woman they were allegedly assaulting.
Mrs Nnamani said while pleading on the woman’s behalf, one of the squad members allegedly rushed inside an Asaba-bound commercial bus she boarded at Upper Iweka, dragged her out of the bus and, in the company of other members, used pestles, clubs and machete on her. She was then allegedly taken to their camp where she was made to pay a huge sum of money to regain her freedom.
She was taken to several orthopaedic hospitals and the squad visited her when they heard her condition was deteriorating. They gave her N50,000 and have not visited again.
Mrs Nnamani’s condition has continued to worsen and she reached out to the public for financial help to continue her medical treatment and avoid having her leg amputated.
Narrating what transpired, Mrs Nnamani said: “The incident happened at Upper Iweka, near the Onitsha head bridge a few weeks ago. I was brutalised, assaulted and humiliated by the SASA operatives for questioning them for beating an elderly woman on the road.
“I was in a commercial vehicle going to Asaba that fateful day. The bus was still loading at the park when I looked from the window and saw SASA officials in their uniforms and combat trousers beating up an elderly woman with pestles and subjecting the woman to all manner of assault.
“As they were pounding the elderly woman, I pleaded with them to leave her alone, but one of the squad members rushed to the bus I was sitting, pulled me down, dragged me out and started using a pestle on me.
“After brutalising me and battering me with a pestle on my legs, he bundled me into their vehicle and took me to their torture camp, where I was made to cough up a huge sum of money to regain my freedom, but not without more assaults and injuries they inflicted on me.”
She said she couldn’t continue her journey that day as people rushed her to the hospital. She added that she was later taken to several orthopaedic hospitals.
She continued, “The injuries I sustained in the process keep expanding and now they said my leg will be amputated. Right now, I don’t have money for such.
“Although the SASA squad visited me when someone who knows me among them told them my condition was deteriorating, they came in company with their leader and gave me N50,000. Since then, they have not visited me again even as my condition worsens due to lack of funds to continue my medical treatment.
“Right now, I am in severe pain and in critical condition. I can’t walk since the incident as I have stopped working. It has not been easy catering to my four children in this condition. I call on Governor Chukwuma Soludo to look at my condition and come to my rescue.”
