Enugu Zonal Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Chika Nwaka says the commission has concluded plans to prosecute Deputy Commissioner of Police in the Ebonyi Police Command, Istifanus Shettima for allegedly assaulting some officers of the commission.
Speaking on Saturday at a public sensitisation rally on the use of Speed Limit Devices in Abakaliki, Nwaka said the DCP would not go unpunished for beating up two officials of the commission who were on duty on the Enugu-Abakaliki expressway on Thursday.
“This has been a regular occurrence and we are determined to make this incident the last,” he said. “It is absurd for him (Shettima) to allege that the FRSC does not have the constitutional right to operate within the town; that was why he assaulted our officers.”
Arguing for FRSC officials to be empowered to carry arms, he said: “lesser security outfits such as vigilante groups carry guns; so, I feel it is high time FRSC officials were empowered to carry arms.”
Speaking, one of the assaulted officials, Onyinyechi Chukwu said he was beaten up while controlling traffic at the Presco Junction axis of the road.
“I did not cause any accident; he just beckoned on me and said that I should be in the office or along the highway and not at the junction,” he said.
“When I tried to defend my posting there, he came down from his vehicle and slapped me. His men swooped on me and they wanted to put me inside the boot of their vehicle but I resisted, while my fellow officers rushed to the scene.”
Reacting, the Police, through Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Sylvester Igbo said the deputy commissioner was on a visit to some officers when “one FRSC officer, who was directing traffic, allowed vehicles from different directions to pass at the same time and this made a tricycle and motorcycle to collide.
“The DCP, who was present at the location with his personnel, directed the FRSC official to accompany the victims of the accident to the Police Motor Traffic Division to give statements and for the injured ones to receive treatment.
“The FRSC officer refused and hauled abuses at the DCP and subsequently assaulted him.”
