From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi
A 28-year-old pastor, David Pev, has demanded the payment of N4.1 million compensation for the injuries he sustained in an attack by some policemen in Benue State.
Pev made the demand yesterday before the eight-man Panel of Enquiry on Alleged Police Extra-Judicial Killings and Human Rights Abuses sitting at a Makurdi High Court.
The cleric submitted his petition through his counsel, Emmanuel Kassar.
The petitioner recalled that around 7:30 p.m on July 28, 2019, while closing from his commercial motorcycle (Okada) business with his brand new red Honda motorcycle with registration number (Benue) MKD 46 QM, he was accosted by policemen from ‘B’ Division at High Level Roundabout in Makurdi, the state capital, and hit him with a stick in a bid to stop him.
Pev told the panel that he fell down on the tarred road and sustained severe injuries on his skull, hand, chest, stomach and the mouth, resulting in a broken tooth.
The cleric also said he became unconscious while his motorcycle was damaged.
Under cross-examination by counsel to the police, F. N. Agwu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Pev tendered pictures, photocopies of legal fee receipt and a letter from Immaculate Hospital, Makurdi, with card number 43771, where he was admitted for treatment, as evidence.
The pastor urged the panel to look into his case as he had lost his source of income and livelihood.
But Agwu opposed the demand, saying the pictures the petitioner tendered were photo-shopped.
The police lawyer averred that in law of evidence, photocopies of documents cannot be tendered before a panel; hence he urged the commission to reject the documents.
Panel Chairman, Justice Adam Onum (retd.), struck out the case of Yaayaa vs Joseph Myuean for the absence of the petitioner and his counsel.
The panel also got a petition from Rev. Cannon Haanongon Gideon over arbitrary invasion of Tse Bonyon and Tse Iam communities in Uyam District of Ukum Local Government Area.
Gideon said he lost millions of naira as his yam stores were burnt down and his house destroyed by suspected operatives of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The Benue Motorcycle Association (BEMOA) and Ikyurav-ya Development Association (IDA) also submitted a petition against the police commissioner on the death of an Okada rider in Adikpo by SARS operatives.
