A Channels Television correspondent in Port Harcourt, Charles Opurum escaped death by whiskers on Tuesday when a mob of Keke operators from the northern extraction attacked him at a petrol station along Rumuola in the state capital.
According to the account by the victim, he was trying to access the station to buy petrol for his car, but the entrance was blocked by a vehicle apparently negotiating with an elderly northerner.
” I kept honking for him to get out of the way so I could pass. It took them over 15 seconds before the vehicle moved. The northerner started cursing me for honking at them. Me too I replied to him from within my car as I drove past him towards the pump.
“As I alighted from the vehicle, the man approached me aggressively and slapped me unprovoked. I immediately returned the slap with power that knocked him back.
“In a split second I was surrounded by ‘Aboki’ people there. They were hitting me from all angles, but I managed to drive away from there. However a policeman attached to the filing station astonishingly damaged my front and back windshields. One of them that was hanging on my vehicle and punching me fell off as I was driving away and my tire climbed his foot”, the victim narrated.
Escaping from the mob, he said he immediately went to the police to report the incident and the DPO of Rumuepirikom station, CSP John Ayah sent 3 patrol vehicles to arrest the perpetrators.
Opurum expressed shock that all the ‘Aboki’ people within the vicinity came out in their numbers to resist police arrest.
However he said that the elderly man who caused the fracas by slapping him was eventually picked up along with a handful of others.
“On seeing me, the manager of the filing station expressed his regrets at how I was treated and provided me with the CCTV footage of the incident”, he further explained.
According to the journalist, on reaching the police station, the suspects tried to twist the matter to appear as if he was the aggressor.
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He said that the policeman who smashed his windshields claimed that he thought him to be one of those who used to come and buy petrol and run away without paying and that was why he smashed the windshields of the car.
However he said that the CCTV footage of the incident the DPO played proved all their allegations wrong while the secretary of the Rivers Arewa community who saw the video rebuked them to keep quiet.
Opurum said though the assailants later begged for forgiveness and paid for the replacement of his car windshields as well as fix the dents on the car, he would take the matter further to the state Commissioner of police to particularly ensure that the policeman who damaged his windshields is dealt with “ruthlessly”.
