A human rights group, Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement (CRRAN) has petitioned the Police Service Commission (PSC) over the alleged three-month illegal detention of a 16-year-old secondary school student in Enugu and demanded N50 million as compensation.

The petition signed by Olu Omotayo, President of CRRAN, made available to newsmen in Enugu on Friday was copied to the Inspector General of Police, Abuja, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Chairperson, Renewed Hope Initiative for Women, Youths and Children, State House Abuja.

The petitioners demanded the payment of the sum of N50 million compensation to the child by the Nigerian Police for the grave violation of the rights of a Nigerian child.

Parts of the petition read: “We write to you in respect of the above-mentioned matter on behalf of Mr. Mrs Eze whose 16-year-old son Arinze Eze an SS2 student in one of the secondary schools in the state, was unlawfully detained for over 3 months at the Police Headquarters Enugu from the 9th October 2023 to 12th January 2024, over a phantom case of rape.

“The 16-year-old was released after our intervention and serious advocacy by the media.

“The beautiful aspect of the boys’ case is that the office of the Attorney General of Enugu State which had earlier requested from the Police the case file of the boy sometimes in December 2023, after a thorough study of the case file found nothing against the boy and directed the immediate discharge of the teenager.

“Mr. Eze said he received a phone call from the State Ministry of Justice on the 16th January 2024, and was informed of the decision of the Attorney General.

“It becomes worrisome that an innocent child who did nothing was tortured and brutalized while in detention for three months.

“Since the release of the child from detention, the parents have been taking him to hospital because of the deteriorating condition of his health.

“The teenager who was looking pale narrated to us how he was tortured while in detention by a policeman named Ifeanyi who used police baton to beat him all over his body joints in order to make him confess to what he did not do.

“The little Eze said his torture was supervised by the Officer in Charge (OC) D 18, State CID Enugu.

“The torture and unlawful detention of this child who committed no offence, for over three months at the Police Headquarters Enugu, is a grave assault on the UN Convention on the Rights of the child (UNCRC) and the Child Rights Act 2003, which is a National law.

“We demand a thorough investigation of this matter by the government which should ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are made to face the full wrath of the law.

“It is unimaginable that the OC Legal the number one, Legal Officer of the state Police Command will be part of this ignominious act, one wonder the type of advice he gives to the state Command as it affects rights of the citizens In their interaction with the Police.

“Nigeria should move along with comity of decent nations of the world and this type of barbarity should never be allowed in this country under any guise whatsoever,” the petition added. (The Guardian)

Update news