How Proscribed Notorious Nigerian Police Unit Damaged My Scrotum – Witness

In the ongoing Nigerian nationwide probe on police brutality, particularly the disbanded and Proscribed Police Unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a testifier has revealed how the notorious police unit, in a bid to force statements out of his mouth, hit and damaged his scrotum. 
The petitioner, Dr. Justin Ugochukwu  Nwankwo, told the ongoing  Anambra State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality, Extra Judiciary killings, and Other Related Matters sitting in Awka Anambra State capital, how his scrotum was damaged while in detention for 81 in Awkuzu SARS detention.

Nwankwo who was a  manager at Upper-Class Hotel in the state’s commercial town of Onitsha and currently a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, said he was brutally tortured to near death and his scrotum hit several times at Awkuzu SARS under the supervision of the commander, CSP James Nwafor.
He said he was heavily tortured to force him to implicate the owners of the hotel to the effect that there were kidnapping activities in the hotel.

He said: “When you hear that my  scrotum was damaged, my hair pulled and was hanged, it was to force me to implicit  the owner of the hotel that the place was for kidnapping den” 
“At the time of torture, my scrotum was damaged and many injuries were inflicted on me. Look at the scars on my forehead, my face, head, all these were incurred while in Awkuza SARS detention.
“If you see my back you could see scars as a result of torture with electric iron by the Awkuzu SARS led by James Nwafor.
“They go for my scrotum to force me to say what did not happen.
“They even write my statment and forces me to thumbprint.

“In between the torture one must intermittently fell unconscious and they will pour buckets of water on you 
“Honestly, I  received the highest torture because they wanted me to be prosecution witness to the owner of the hotel. There was so much torture for  me  to accept that there were kidnapping activities at the hotel which was not true 
“I was tortured, incarcerated, and almost killed by  Awkuzu SARS. To the glory of God, I survived, and even till today police have not brought any formal charges against us. We were arrested detained for 81 days without any charge. 
“This is why  I approached the panel for the world to know that after 81 days in SARS detention and seven years after, we have not gotten any charge, police apology or government as to what happened at upper-class hotel Onitsha in 2013.
“I seek for my name to be cleared because by the time the incident happened we were tagged   Otokoto in Onitsha.
“We are asking the Panel to set us free from the mental torture and for the police and government to pay us compensation for the damages inflicted on us by Awkuzu SARS,” he said.

He revealed that on the day of the incident, somebody lodged in the hotel room with his name with which the manifest was submitted to the police and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). 
According to him, the room 102  where corpses were found somebody paid for it and somebody lodged, saying that to the best of his knowledge nobody in the hotel brought in any corpse.
“By the time the police came around at 8 am, the lodger had left and somebody name Obi had been earlier submitted to them.
“The first injury I got from Awkuzu SARS was my insistence that somebody lodged in room 102 and that the name of the lodger was forwarded to police and CID.

“It was not a  standard practice that hoteliers will search guests in hotel rooms,” he said.
According to him, the majority of people who normally lodge in the hotel were traders because the hotel was located inside the market.
“The worst was that the hotel was demolished the same day they arrested us. 
“So the police started and concluded the investigation of the case in a day and the government ordered for the demolition of the hotel the same day. 

“On the same day, the police investigated the case, took the case to court, and got judgment and order was executed the same day.
“The former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, said there was a security report on the hotel and we have been asking him to make the report public. 
“When you arrested us, you should have left the hotel and do the investigation and allow the court to give the order for demolition,” he said.