Following the viral video of local security operatives known as Operation Udo Ga-Achi or Agunechemba Vigilante Group, beating and later stripping a female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Jennifer Elobor naked in Oba community, Idemili South Local Council of the state, the State Police Command has condemned the assault saying such act was unacceptable and pledging to ensure justice.
In the video, the security operatives were seen accusing Elobor and her colleagues of being fraudsters. Despite presenting her identification card, the operatives beat her up, tore her clothes and stripped her naked.
Condemning the assault on a television programme on Tuesday, August 19, the Command’s spokesman, Tochukwu Ikenga, said: “The video is very wrong, what they did to that lady is very, very wrong.”
He assured that the Command remained committed to ensuring residents’ safety, explaining that the victim contacted him directly. Ikenga expressed dissatisfaction with how her complaint was handled at the Agunechemba security office.
“The point I want to draw here is that the process she went through in Agunechemba in getting justice, I think from her own point, she was not satisfied, that was why she stepped up the complaint to me,” he said.
While disclosing that Elohor was invited to his office, the PPRO explained that she was away for medical treatment, promising to come to his office. “We, the Nigeria Police, Anambra State Command, are ready to make sure that we enforce (justice) whenever she comes around,” Ikenga added.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State Government said the operatives involved had been arrested and dismissed. Speaking on the same programme, Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Community Security, Ken Emeakayi, said: “Immediately the incident happened, we arrested the operatives involved and placed them in detention.”
While condemning the operatives’ action, which he described as unpatriotic and not reflective of the intended security duties of the Agunaechemba outfit, Emeakayi said the government was ready to hand over the dismissed operatives for prosecution once the Police request for that.
He added that the state was working with the Police to train vigilante members on proper security management, with each operative carrying an identification number on their uniform.
“The action of the security operatives is condemnable, and, as such all the operatives involved in that despicable action of stripping the NYSC member naked have been disengaged from the state government’s vigilant service.
“Whenever the state Police Command is ready for their prosecution, as a government we will produce them,” the SSA stated.