Stabbed victims refute police claim, narrate ordeals

Three victims of an attack by a Policeman, Sergeant Taiwo Orisadare, aka 2k, stabbing nine persons at a joint in Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State capital which was reported few days ago have faulted police report which stated that they first attacked the policeman.

They insisted that the sergeant was the one who first attacked them for declining to foot his food bills.

The victims; Tapere Ganiyu,  his son, Tapere Adegoke and Oladapo Oladeji, who spoke with The Hope yesterday said they were surprised and found it ironic  reading from a national  newspaper where Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Femi Joseph alleged them of first attacking the Sergeant who attacked them.

They claimed that the wife of the policeman had earlier visited them at the hospital where they were receiving treatment and pleaded that the case be settled amicably so as to save her husband’s job.

 Narrating his ordeal, Tapere Adegoke said himself and his colleagues were at a popular eatery near Methodist Church Cathedral in Akure at about 9.pm on the fateful day when the policeman entered.

He claimed that the policeman took a bottle of beer on their table without permission and later ordered for food worth  N2,500. He asked the waiter to collect the money from them, which he said he declined.

He said the Policeman became angry with them upon hearing that he refused to pay his bill and broke a bottle of empty beer on his friend’s head before using it to stab him on the head.

“At first, I was not aware that he was stabbing me. I thought he was just hitting me on the head. I held on to him fast so that he would not get away. He was even wearing his uniform when he was attacking us”

According to him, when his father later joined them at the scene, the policeman hit him on the nose for trying to restrain him.

Despite the injury on his head, Tapere said he held on to the policeman till they got to the state hospital where he was treated since they were rejected at the private hospital they were earlier taken to.

On whether there was any cordial relationship with the police sergeant, Tapere, a cloth dealer in Akure said he never had a close contact with the policeman and that they were mere acquaintances.

Mr Ganiyu Tapere, father of Adegoke and a victim said he was coming from Ado-Ekiti to meet his son at the eatery when he met them in the brawl.

He said he decided to meet his son there so that they could go home together.

His words “I left Ado Ekiti late on that Friday. When I got to Akure, because of the traffic congestion at Oba Adesida road, I took “Okada” to meet him where he said he was. When I got there, I met them struggling and decided to separate them. That was when he attacked me too”.

The father of the victim explained that he had lodged a complain at the ‘B’ Division of the Ondo State police command and had also written a statement.

According to him, the family of the police sergeant had been begging them for an amicable settlement which they had earlier been amenable to until they began to read spurious claims in the media.

Reacting, Ondo State Police Public Relation Officer, Mr. Femi Joseph said Commissioner of Police has ordered full scale investigatuion into the matter and that invetigation is going on.