Posted by Protesters from the Ekiugbo community barricaded highways within Ughelli city on Wednesday, cutting off commercial activity and vehicular movement for several hours.
They were claiming that police and local security personnel in Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, were involved in misbehavior.
With signs reading “Police brutality is getting too much,” “Police in Ughelli are fighting the innocents instead of criminals,” “Too much of police illegal activities in the land,” and “Ughelli Police should allow our people free movement,” among others, the demonstrators waved placards.
They claimed that members of the Ughelli Area command's police and hunting contingent were involved in a kidnapping.
“We are protesting because of the evil being penetrated by hunters and a few policemen,” Ekiugbo community president general Bernard Baker told reporters.
Kidnappings have become rampant in our neighborhoods.
But the cops are only looking to intimidate and extort money from suspects as they roam the streets with weapons like battle axes and point-of-sale equipment. Police officers armed with combat axes are a sight to behold.
The hunters in Ughelli are the real deal when it comes to kidnappings, we found out. The kidnappers are always hidden, so the hunters never show up when there's an abduction problem.
But Bright Edafe, who is in charge of public relations for the state police, called the protest a hoax.
According to him, criminals were trying to deceive the public.