MAPOLY student battered by police officer

A police officer, Emmanuel Ogunlesi, has allegedly battered Peter Taiwo, 25, of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State, inflicting a life-threatening injury on his head.

On Monday, when our correspondent visited the hospital where the victim was taken to for treatment, he observed that he had yet to recover from the attack. He looked frail, and struggled to open his eyes and talk to those around him.

According to Punch, some students were reading outside their private hostels when Ogunlesi, who is an Assistant Superintendent of Police, rode to the area on a motorcycle in company with another policeman.

A student, Kehinde Bello, alleged that Ogunlesi had earlier beaten two female students in the area.

She further alleged that the policemen came back to apprehend the female students, but accosted Taiwo, who they accused of slowing them down and allowing the students to escape.

She said, “The policeman (Ogunlesi) and his colleague, then turned their attention to Taiwo and dealt him several blows on the head with their batons.”

They later fled the scene and left the student unconscious in a pool of blood.

According to the acting Police Public Relations Officer for the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, Ogunlesi had been summoned and was under interrogation.

He explained that the state Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, had also ordered a comprehensive investigation into the incident.

Oyeyemi said, “The police in the state will not condone any form of violation of human rights of the citizens. The officer involved has been summoned to the headquarters in Eleweran.”

The state Chairman of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Olayinka Folarin, said the CDHR would employ all legal means to ensure that justice was done on the matter.