A mother of three has been left disfigured after reportedly being assaulted by officials of the Special Anti-Touting Squad for confronting them about their alleged misconduct.
Mrs. Nkemakolam Nnamani, a nursing mother, claimed she was attacked with a pestle and subjected to public humiliation after intervening to plead for mercy on behalf of an elderly woman whom the squad was allegedly mistreating.
According to Mrs. Nnamani, she was dragged out of an Asaba-bound commercial bus at Upper Iweka while advocating for the elderly woman.
The squad members, accompanied by others, purportedly used pestles, clubs, and a machete on her. Subsequently, she was taken to their camp and forced to pay a significant amount of money to secure her release.
Following the assault, Mrs. Nnamani sought treatment at several orthopaedic hospitals. The squad reportedly visited her once upon hearing her condition was worsening, providing her with N50,000. However, they have not returned since.
Mrs. Nnamani’s health has continued to deteriorate, and she has appealed to the public for financial assistance to cover ongoing medical expenses, fearing she may face amputation of her leg.
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.”
