Port Harcourt, Rivers State — The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the arrest and detention of officers involved in a viral video showing the brutal assault of a man in Port Harcourt. The victim, Kletus Emmanuel Onyekachi, claims he and his companions were viciously attacked after he refused to pay a ₦1 million bribe for an expired tinted vehicle permit.
The harrowing incident, which took place on Igbo-Etche Road, was captured in a widely circulated video showing the victim bloodied and pleading with officers not to shoot him as they repeatedly beat and stood on his body.
In a video statement, Emmanuel recounted his ordeal, stating the officers first demanded his vehicle papers before accusing him of an expired tinted permit. When he explained that the renewal portal was congested, the officers allegedly demanded the staggering sum of ₦1 million, a fine Emmanuel said was more than what was paid by those who commit murder.
“I told him that even people who commit murder don’t pay ₦1 million as a fine. For tinted glass? I even offered ₦20,000 just so they could let us go, but they rejected it,” he stated.
According to Emmanuel, the situation turned violent when he attempted to call a friend for financial help. The officers, accusing him of using “contacts” against them, seized his phone and began the assault. Emmanuel claims an officer “gave me dirty slaps and he brushed me. I fell on the floor… He stood on my head close to my ear. He stood and crossed.” He said the officer proceeded to stomp on his head three times, while repeatedly calling him a “criminal.”
He further alleged that a policeman emerged from the bush with a stick and attacked him, his younger brother, a friend, and a female passenger, whose clothes were allegedly torn. “They zoomed off with my brother and left me for dead,” he added. An elderly man later helped him get to the hospital.
Emmanuel, who spoke in a video made available to Africa Update on Friday morning, said the policemen stopped him on Igbo-Etche Road, near Ibu-Ichie roundabout, while he was returning from a car wash.
According to him, the officers first demanded his vehicle papers before accusing him of having an expired tinted permit.
He said when he tried to explain that the renewal portal was congested, the policemen allegedly switched to extortion and demanded a shocking ₦1 million bribe, insisting he would be taken to the station if he failed to pay.
“One of them told me straight that I should ‘bring one meter’ (₦1 million) for the tinted permit. I thought he was joking until he made it clear that he was serious
“I told him that even people who commit murder don’t pay ₦1 million as a fine. For tinted glass? I even offered ₦20,000 just so they could let us go, but they rejected it,” Emmanuel said in a video
When he attempted to place a call to a friend for financial assistance, the officers allegedly accused him of trying to use “contacts” against them, seized his phone, and descended on him with slaps, punches, and whips.
He said: “While we’re arguing, arguing, arguing, I just decided to call a friend who can help me raise money so I dey go home peacefully.
“One fair man (policeman) saw me as I put the phone to my ear. He ran towards me with so much anger. I was afraid, but I just stood.
“He said, ‘Who are you calling? You want to show us that you get contact? We’re going to show you this place, you don’t get contact. We will deal with you. You’re a criminal.’
“’In fact, come and give me that phone.’ I said, I cannot give him my phone. ‘Officer, you have left vehicle matter and entered phone matter. What do you want from my phone?’ He said, ‘Give me that phone.’ I said, ‘Officer, I’m not calling anybody. I’m not videoing you. I’m trying to make calls to see if I can get money so I can give you N1 million.’ The man said, ‘What’s that? I’m taking you to the station.’
“I said, ‘Officer,’ but he just gave me dirty slaps and he brushed me. I fell on the floor. When I fell, I fell on my left side here.
“He’s carrying his leg. He stood on my head close to my ear. He stood and crossed.”
“He said, you’re a criminal. I will treat you like a criminal today. You’re a criminal. You’re a thief. He came back again. I was still on the floor. He marched me again and crossed to the back. He came back again the third time and marched me the third time and crossed,” he added.
A widely circulated clip of the incident shows the victim covered in blood, pleading with the officers not to shoot him as they repeatedly beat him and stood on his body.
Narrating his ordeal in the video, Emmanuel said he offered the policemen N20,000 in appreciation of their work, but was pressured further.
“I told them that I have no money, but to appreciate their work, I will give them N20,000,” he said.
“However, due to the pressure and wanting peace to reign, I told them that since I had already gotten to their checkpoint and they stopped me, let me call someone who can help me add some small money to the N20,000.”
Things took a violent turn when one of the officers accused him of trying to use his contacts.
“One of the officers who saw me carrying my phone ran towards me, he claimed that I was trying to call someone and show them that I have contacts, promising to deal with me,” he said.
“Before I knew it, he gave me two dirty slaps and brushed me. I fell on the floor, when I fell on my left side and the man took his leg and put on my head, he kept marching me and I kept saying I don’t have N1 million for tinted permit.”
Emmanuel further alleged that a policeman emerged from the bush with a stick and attacked both him and a female passenger.
“They tore her clothes because they felt she was videoing them,” he said.
“One of them hit me on my head with the stick they took from the bush, and in the process, I fell and lost consciousness. They zoomed off with my brother and left me for dead.”
He said it took the intervention of an elderly man before he could be rushed to a hospital after several motorists refused to help.
Onyekachi said it was after his younger brother begged the officers for mercy that the policemen turned on him, his friend, and a young lady in the car, beating them mercilessly.
Onyekachi said: “That boy, that black man, went inside the booth, came out with sticks.
“He hit my brother’s friend that I carried in my car, beat my brother and even the girl that was with us.
“They kicked her. They beat this girl, tore her clothes and handbag, because they felt she was videoing them. She said she was not videoing them.
“They started beating her, dragging her on the floor, and pushed her into a gutter.
“That fair man came back to me again. He brushed me again. I fell on the floor.
“He stood on my leg and passed again. That man who was with sticks, that black man, he’s now coming from the booth with his sticks. He said, you’re a criminal.
“I will show you how we treat criminals. In fact, he’s not dragging his gun. He said, I’m going to shoot you. Nobody can do anything. You’re a criminal.
“Don’t shoot me. That’s what I kept saying in the video. Don’t shoot me. Officer, calm down, don’t shoot me. Don’t shoot me.”
Meanwhile, Police spokesperson Grace Iringe-Koko has confirmed the arrests, stating the officers are facing disciplinary action. The Commissioner of Police, CP Olugbenga Adepoju, has ordered a full-scale investigation and promised that the outcome will be made public.
