Some lawyers and Hunan rights activists have urged Anambra State Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo to ensure that members of the state’s Special Anti-Touts Squad, who used a pestle to brutalise and cripple Onitsha-based businessman Wilfred Ezike, a.k.a Mgbilimgba, face justice.
This comes as the Campaign for Democracy, the Human Rights Liberty Access, and the Peace Defenders’ Foundation have all condemned Mgbiligba’s torture at the hands of Anambra State’s Special Anti Tout Squad.
Mgbilimgba, who is also a member of Anambra’s ruling party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), was seen in a viral video that has been circulating on social media since last week, in which men from the Anti-Touts squad were beating and maiming him with short pestles and matchetes over an unspecified reason.
The incident was said to have happened at the underground cell of the Anti-touts operatives located at Upper Iweka, in Onitsha, on Tuesday.
The horrifying viral video, which has sparked outrage across the state, showed anti-touts officials repeatedly hitting the man with a short pestle while questioning him about an unknown matter. The officials were filming him while brutalising his ankles and knees with short pestles and matchetes.
In response to the development, rights groups criticised the state governor for his continued silence on the matter, describing the treatment of the man by State Special Anti-Touts Squad operatives as “inhumane” and “barbaric.”
In separate interviews with our correspondent on Tuesday, John Udeh, a human rights lawyer based in Onitsha and former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (Nnewi branch), said the Anti-touts operatives violated the part of the constitution that declared torture or any form of brutality by security operatives to be absolutely prohibited.
Udeh said, “I saw the video, it was very horrible and inhumane how the public officials who are being paid with tax payers money were brutalising the young man and also filming the process. The acts exhibited by the SASA men in that video were highly condemnable, no matter the offence of the victim, the rightful thing to do was to hand him over to the certified law enforcement agencies like the police or DSS for investigation and possible prosecution. SASA does not have the powers to detain ‘suspects’.
“And for the fact that the state governor has continued to keep mum over the viral horrible video leaves so much to be desired. There is nobody that saw that video that was not touched. The brutality in that video was out of this world, it shows how wicked and inhumane those recruited into that operations are.
“The state government must react by exposing and punishing the erring officers that is the only way to demonstrate that they are not accomplices in the act of brutality against the people. Although, the commissioner for homeland affairs issued a statement the following day that video was released, it’s been over a week now, nothing has been done and the officers are walking freely while the victim is hospitalised.”
Another rights lawyer, based in Onitsha, Clement Ataghi, said, “Such brutality expressed by the Anti-touts officials in that video requires drastic reaction by the state government. No matter the offence of the person, he should have been handed to law enforcement officers like the police. It is condemnable that up to a week, the pepertrators have not been fished out.
“Nigeria’s Constitution prohibits torture, and the Anti-Torture Act imposes a penalty of up to 25 years imprisonment for perpetrators. There are legal safeguards against arbitrary arrest, torture, brutality and detention. Our constitution also expresses an absolute prohibition on torture, including the Convention against Torture (CAT), which requires states to take effective measures to prevent acts of torture in their jurisdiction.
“The fact that the state government has allowed such horrible acts of brutality by SASA operatives and nothing is being done to the perpetrators demonstrates that the state governor has a high disregard for human rights, and human rights abuses have continued to fester in this administration through various state government agencies, which is just a pity.”
Another rights lawyer, Ifeoma Okeh, stated that when SASA was established, the state governor did not give officers the freedom to engage in the brutality and violations of human rights depicted in the viral video.
“The fact that relevant authorities, including the police, have remained silent on the situation demonstrates how they have prioritised human rights and citizens’ rights. What those operatives did in that video was extremely condemnable, and the perpetrators must be prosecuted in order to restore trust in the system. “They should not be permitted to carry dangerous weapons,” she added.
However, in separate reactions issued on Tuesday, the Chairman of Campaign for Democracy and Executive Director of HURIDE, Chief Uzor A. Uzor, stated that, while they were not holding brief for “Mgbiligba,” the incident portends grave danger for democracy not only in Anambra State but throughout the country.
Uzor stated that Soludo cannot defend himself from the “barbaric and uncivilised” method of torturing the victim with a short pestle based on a “trumped-up allegation” that he is a suspected criminal.
He said “If he is a criminal, the security operatives should do their job by arresting him and arraigning him in a law court instead of the Anti-touts operatives taking laws into their hands by crudely torturing him
“Mgbiligba’s torture by Soludo’s anti-tout group undermines Anambra State’s credibility as a civilised state. Even if Mgbiligba had committed the alleged crime, there are more civilised and legal ways to handle him than this crude torture.
“What Soludo’s anti-tout group did amounted to taking the law into their own hands through brute force; they told people that “might is right.” We urge Soludo to immediately order the arrest and arraignment of the perpetrators involved in this heinous act as a deterrent to others in the future.”
However, when contacted about the latest development on Tuesday, Anambra State Police Command spokesman SP Tochukwu Ikenga stated that he saw the viral video in which the man was brutalised, but that the matter had not been brought before the police.
Chikodi Anarah, the state Commissioner for Homeland Affairs, also issued a statement, saying, “We are investigating the matter and will punish the erring SASA operatives.”
“I was alerted to a viral video of Wilfred Ezike, also known as Mgbiligba, being arrested and manhandled by SASA officers. I am really sorry that such an incident occurred. I have been feeling bad all day since someone shared the video with me.
“Our government is law-abiding, which is why we must apprehend the SASA agents involved in the incident under investigation and punish them appropriately.
“It is also true that we are determined to eliminate ‘Agberos,’ but this must be done in accordance with the laws of the land. Interestingly, people have commented and reacted. This depicts life in a functioning democracy.
“Some of them claim Wilfred Ezike committed various levels of atrocities for which he should have been more severely manhandled and prosecuted, while counter-narratives argue that he should not have been manhandled at all. Nothing justifies brutality in my opinion or in the eyes of the Anambra State government, which is why we will punish the wrongdoers.”
According to news reports, Anambra State Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo established the state Anti-touts Squad in 2023 to combat the state’s growing problem with touting.
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