DIPLOMATIC BRUTALITY .

When Mr Rasaq Salami, an Abuja-based businessman, left his home in the early hours of Friday, March 20, 2009, he was hale and hearty. Hope beamed all over his face as his wife and kids wished him a pleasant day. He returned the pleasantries with a promise to return home early to prepare for the birthday of his first child. Little did he know that something unpleasant was in the offing for him that morning; an undisguised cruelty that awaited him in the course of the day.

Soon after stepping into the premises of the Polish Embassy in Abuja, Salami was beaten black and blue by police officers attached to the embassy. He had gone there to retrieve the passport of his friend, Mr Mustapha Bakare. After the security operatives finished with him, Salami was taken straight to the Maitama General Hospital where he was still recuperating at the time of this report, almost two weeks after his ordeal.

In excruciating pains, he narrated his story to Sunday Sun. Salami said overzealous policemen and other security operatives at the embassy premises pounced on him like a common felon. According to him, his trouble started about 1.30 pm when he arrived the embassy to retrieve his friend’s passport, which had been submitted for visa. He said they knocked at the gate and heard a voice, probably that of the security man, asking them “my friend, who is that knocking on the window?”

Salami was obviously not pleased and asked the man how he could be addressing people he had not even seen in such an irreverent manner.
“From nowhere, the private security man opened the gate and a police constable started raining abuses on me. I asked him to tell me my sin for which he was insulting me. Even when I reminded him that he was insulting me when he did not know why I was there, he repeated that I was stupid,” he said.
According to him, the angry policeman threatened to slap him if he dared reply him again.
“When I challenged him further that it was not proper for him to slap me without knowing my sin and the purpose of my visit, he held my shirt and dragged me into the compound and started punching and hitting me on the head, kicking me when I fell down on the ground. I called for help but no one came and he did not stop either,” he said.

A thoroughly overawed Salami said as the punishment continued unabated, he had to grab his tormentor.
“But knowing the implication of fighting a police officer, I left him; but he did not stop beating me. When I managed to get up, I headed to the door of the building but the police officer went in, dressed properly and brought out his gun and continued hitting me on my leg with the gun until my leg got broken.”
He continued: “They tagged me a criminal and terrorist, and a white man standing by the door urged them to deal with me. When they were done with me, they asked me to walk out of the compound. But already I had fracture on my right leg and I told them I could not stand and so I could not walk. They dragged me out of the gate.”
Salami who is still lying critically ill at the Maitama General Hospital because of the injuries sustained at the incident further told Sunday Sun that when his friend rushed to the Maitama Police Station to report the incident, a white man, suspected to be the Ambassador, had phoned the Force Headquarters alleging that their men had arrested a terrorist at his embassy.

He said as soon as men from the Force Headquarters arrived the Maitama Police Station, the female Inspector who led the team asked the policemen on duty why they manhandled him in such a manner. But one Uchendu Kalu, an officer from the Force Headquarters, who had earlier arrived the scene and had been holding talks with the embassy staff in the office, came out and engaged the female officer in a sharp disagreement on their mission there.

Salami said he was however taken to the Maitama Police Station in company of the officer from the Force Headquarters and that he requested to be taken to the hospital before his condition worsened, as he was bleeding all over his body.
Flanked by his wife, friends and other well wishers in hospital, Salami disclosed that one of the police officers from the Force Headquarters had led five other officers to plead with him not to make a case with the embassy as they were ready to pick his hospital bill. But he rejected the offer.

When our correspondent visited the Embassy of Poland, the Ambassador Designate, Przemyslaw Niesiolowski, confirmed the incident but claimed he was not in Abuja at the time it occurred.
Niesiolowski, who declined to speak on tape, however refuted claims by Salami and his friend, Bakare, that they were at the embassy to collect Bakare’s passport. “We had checked our systems and found out that the fellow did not apply for visa with our embassy in Abuja.
“But the matter here concerns the security of the embassy and I don’t dispute the police because they are here to protect the embassy,” the diplomat said, justifying the action of the security men against the victim.

“I do hope really hope that the true reason of his visit will be soon revealed in the police investigation report. I was in Lagos from afternoon March 19, 2009 till afternoon of Saturday, March 21, 2009. So the incident took place in my absence and the reports that I supervised his beating and ordered the police to deal with him were false,” Niesiolowski said.
According to him, “my knowledge of the incident is limited to the information received by the police on guard when he returned that Saturday afternoon,’ ambassador said.

In a prepared statement, the ambassador insisted: “Mr. Mustapha Bakare has not applied for a visa in Polish Embassy in Abuja. Therefore nobody, including Mr Salami, can claim that the reason of their visit at the embassy was to collect Mr. Bakare’s passport.
“I do really hope that the true reason of their visit will soon be revealed in the police investigation report. The purpose of Mr Salami’s visit to the embassy as well as the exact course of the events remains unclear,”

Officers at the Maitama Police Station also confirmed the incident but declined further comments just as the DPO, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Rabiu Sabiu, said he is yet to get details of the case since the victim was still receiving treatment in the hospital.
“Because of his bad state of health, we advised he should be treated first, then we continue with investigation. We are yet to get his statement concerning the case so we can only give out information when we get the facts,” Sabiu stated.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/apr/19/national-19-04-2009-02.htm

Nigerian police Na WA 4 Una

9ja, shameless country

Pathetic.

If His story is correct/true and he should get a good lawyer and sue the hell out of the said embassy.Things like this only happen in Nigeria,In other countries the Police are thee to first protect there citizens before anything else the reverse is the case in Nigeria.

Just wished alot of Nigerians can have the opportunity to travel out for just a week and see how things are done properly.

To the Polish Embassy shame on you

To the Nigerian Police Abuja command shame on you guys, you guys are a disgrace to the police force.

To the Police officer who laid his hands o his fellow Nigerian, shame on you, you dont deserve to be an officer of the law or even a Nigerian.