A former commissioner in Rivers State, Chief Pawariso Samuel Horsfall has demanded the payment of N30million as compensation for the brutality, assault and manhandling meted against him by operatives of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Buguma during 2019 gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections.
Horsfall said payment of the sum so demanded would compensate for the assault and beating he suffered from operatives of SARS and Mobile Police Force as well as his properties and jewelleries carted away by the police during the incident.
The two-time commissioner and the current Regent of Peace Compound in Buguma town, Asari Toru Local Government Area, made the demand, yesterday, when he appeared to give evidence at the ongoing sitting in Port Harcourt of the state Judicial Commission of Inquiry Investigating the alleged Acts of Killing, Violence, Torture and Abuse of Fundamental Rights of Citizens committed by officers, men and operatives of the Nigerian police.
Horsfall while giving his evidence in the petition he submitted to the panel, alleged that on March 9, 2019, in Ward 7, Unit 11, Buguma, in Pawariso’s compound where the polling unit was situated, officials of SARS, accompanied by some APC stakeholders in the area, stormed his house and carted away his personal belongings worth about N30million on election day.
He further alleged that the police officers told him that they acted based on intelligence reports that he was harbouring thugs in his house, adding that he watched while the police destroyed his properties and looted his wife’s jewelleries.
The regent, who took his time to narrate his alleged ordeal in the hands of the SARS and police officers attached to monitor the said election in his polling unit, told the panel that the police officers also manhandled PDP supporters who came to cast their votes on that fateful day, adding that the police were aided by APC members to snatch ballot papers.
According to him, they were allegedly assaulted by the police, especially the SARS operatives, adding that the torture dehumanised and traumatised them.
“They alleged that I was harbouring thugs in my house. We were only seven persons at that moment, and my house is at the third floor of the three-storey building where the polling unit is located.
“They looted my properties and carted away my wife’s personal effects. I lost over N30million.
“I did not report the matter in any police station because the police seemed to be at war with every PDP member on that day”, he added.
Horsfall urged the commission to ensure that justice was served on the matter.
Our correspondent reports that a similar assault case brought by Hon Claudius Princewill from Buguma town in Asari Toru Local Government Area was later adjourned to December 14, 2020, for cross-examination by the police legal team, while the petition written by Mr Ezekiel Tariuwo was struck out because the matter was pending before a Federal High Court in the state.
The presiding Chairman, Justice Chukwunoye Uriri (rtd) while striking out the petition, said the panel was not bound to entertain any matter that was prejudice.