Tension is brewing between members of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Warri and Effurun branches and the Delta State Command of the Nigeria Police over the alleged clubbing to a pulp Mr Bernard Oyabevwe by some overzealous men of the A-Division of the Nigeria Police, Warri Area Command.
Speaking at a press conference weekend in Warri, Delta State, chairman of the branch, Mr Godwin Ebowe, said the victim, Mr Bernard Oyabevwe, was brutalized, dehumanized and dragged on the floor by cops like a common criminal for no cogent reason.

The infamous incident, he disclosed, took place on the morning of June 5 at A-Division Police Station at the Warri Area Command headquarters when the victim went to Magistrate Court II in a matter between C.O.P VS NOSA IGIEHON.

Mr Ebowe identified one Corporal Collins Imade and one dreadlocks-wearing Oyinkasa Joseph also known as Kasojo with number 372964 as two of the overzealous cops that almost snuffed the life out of Mr Oyabevwe.

The victim, Oyabevwe, who was in pains from visible gashes and bruises in his face and other parts of his body,  recounts his moving, near-death experience in the hands of the killer-policemen at the A-Division thus:

I was to appear at Magistrate Court II in a matter that was coming up that morning between C.O.P VS NOSA IGIEHON.

“Meanwhile, I have another matter that same morning at High Court 1 which was not going on because the court is not sitting.

“So, I rushed to High Court 1 to see if I could take a date with counsel on the other side. Before I got back to the Magistrates Court II, EFCC had arrested my client who is the Defendant in the matter and taken him to “A” Division, Warri.

“In fact, I was informed by the Prosecutor and the I.P.O from Zone 5 that he was forcefully taken from the court by the EFCC officials.
Being a counsel in the matter and owing to the fact that my client tried frantically to get access to me on the phone while being forcefully taken away, I took the case file for the matter while holding my wig and gown and dairy in my hand and went to “A” division. On getting there I saw my client and his wife behind the counter. When they saw me they approached one of the EFCC officials who was standing close to them (armed) and told him that I am their lawyer, but he ignored them and beckoned on his colleagues to start moving my client and his wife but they started resisting and struggling with the EFCC men.