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#JusticeForChima: Journalist shares heartbreaking prison photos of Port Harcourt mechanics allegedly accused, remanded for robbery
A Nigerian citizen journalist Philip Thomas popularly known as Comrade Phils has given an update on the story of a mechanic in Port Harcourt, Rivers State who was allegedly arrested alongside four colleagues, framed and tortured to death by some police officers.
Comrade Phils took to his Twitter page on Wednesday to share photos and a video of the other four victims with serious wounds in prison.
WuzupNigeria reports that in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday 16th Janaury, 2020, Phils had narrated how Chima Ikwunadu died in police custody while his four colleagues were remanded in prison after the police accused them of stealing the cars given to them to fix by a customer and also extorted all the cash on them at the point of arrest.
He explained that the customer had given the cars to Chima to fix last December and the police arrested him for driving against traffic, then changed the charges to cultism and robbery.
Comrade Phils tweeted:
“He was arrested for taking one way by the e-crack team led by one Inspector Benson and attached to mile one police station in Diobu,PH. After collecting over N200k on them, the police accused them of stealing the cars.
“The boys gave them the numbers of the owners of the cars to call and confirm that their cars were not stolen but the police gave them deaf ears. They were thrown into cell and tortured.
“The police refused family access to them even after collecting bribes. The owners of the cars came and made it known to the police that their cars were not stolen and that they gave Chima the car to fix. Still, these boys were left in detention
“Eventually Chima allegedly died from torture on the 23rd of Dec, 2019. The police released the two cars to the owners on the 30th of Dec after confirming their papers yet charged the remaining 4 boys for robbery and cultism.
“On the police charge sheet, they never mentioned the arrest and death of Chima. They declared him as “Others at large”. And never told the family about his death. The boys were charged on the 9th Jan 2020 & currently in prison.
“Chima left behind a pregnant wife and an aged father. He was their sole breadwinner. His family is devastated by this event. The other 4 boys are in prison with grave injuries from torture.“
The story sparked outrage on social media two weeks ago as netizens tweeted with the hashtag #JusticeForChima to call on government and police authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest and death of Chima and others still in prison.
#JusticeForChima and #FreeIkoku4 started trending again on Wednesday morning as outraged social media users are calling for justice for the deceased and others.
Reacting to the report on Friday 17th January, the Police Complaint Response Unit (CRU) had taken to its Twitter page to say it is investigating the incident.
The head of the Police CRU, ACP Markus Ishaku also confirmed that the Rivers State Commissioner of Police has been directed to hand over the officers involved in the case to the police authorities.
See photos and video:
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