How Police Tortured Veteran Journalist Robert Akpan

CHUKA UBAH

A veteran journalist, Mr. Robert Akpan, of CrimeWorld Newspapers has been hospitalized after he was arrested and brutally tortured by a team of police officers led by two Inspectors of Police, Amos Otomg and Charles Akahi, attached to Ikeja Police Division, Lagos State Command.

P.M.EXPRESS confirmed that the sight challenge he had worsened after the inhuman treatment meted to him; he was detained in the police cell for two days without access to his drugs and his relatives could not bail him over what he described as false allegation.
An embittered Akpan narrated how the police team numbering about 10 invaded his Ejigbo home, broke his door, forced their way inside and bundled him away in commando style to Ikeja Division cell for those days.
In a petition to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Zubairu Muazu, dated 4th April, 2019, which was titled “Unprofessional Conduct, Malicious Damage, Poor Investigation and Physical Assault Against Inspectors Otomg and Akahi attached to Ikeja Division,
Akpan alleged that the officers in question in company with others ambushed his wife on her way to church, arrested, brought her home, forced his door open and in the process destroyed his Television set. He claimed that they dragged him out on the ground that he was under arrest despite the fact that he did not commit any offence and with no warrant of arrest.
Akpan said that they subjected him to untold suffering, embarrassed and treated him as a common criminal even when he tried to explain to them that he was a crime reporter to no avail. He stated that he was badly maltreated and his house was invaded in Commando style over an unsubstantiated complaint by one Madam Gloria that she gave him certain amount of money in order to help determine the state of his brother who was remanded in prison custody which he assisted to get the DPP details for.
Akpan alleged that the officers did not investigate the allegations but were only interested in him coughing out N300,000 which he did not collect; the police officers subjected him to mental and psychological torture to intimidate and humiliate him without carrying out any investigation on the matter.
He stated that the officers had insisted that he must remain in the police cell until he signed an undertaking before he will be released.

“I am constrained to write this petition to you Sir because it was clear that both the Investigating Police Officer, IPO and other officers have shown bare face bias and therefore wish that you call for the case file and reassign it to a decent police officer for the interest of justice” he stated.