The managing director of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA), Mr. Osita Onuko, has expressed regret to the GUO Transport Company’s management and the driver who was beaten by security guards allegedly on his orders.
Onuko, who apologised in front of the public on Saturday, claimed full responsibility for the security personnel’s actions on Friday, even after he had left the Unizik Junction scene of the violence.
Following a traffic incident with the ACTDA head on the Ukpo axis of the Enugu-Onitsha motorway, a team of police, NSCDC and Anambra Vigilance Group personnel brutalised the GUO Transport Company driver who had travelled from Lagos.
Onuko claimed that when he and two NSCDC employees were driving towards Awka, the driver attempted a dangerously quick overtake and drove into their lane, putting their lives and the lives of others in jeopardy.
He claimed that attempts to stop the GUO driver—who continued driving without showing any remorse—were ineffective because he would not stop, not even at police checkpoints.
Because the motorway is a two-way road, he was unable to overtake me and the other cars in the queue because two heavy-duty trucks were coming up behind him. If he had instead veered into my lane, it would have been a serious accident.
When he finally came to a stop at the UNIZIK junction, two NSCDC officers approached him while wearing their uniforms and requested that he get off the bus, but he instead locked himself and his passengers inside.
“At this time, the situation was getting out of hand, so I had to summon the police and local vigilantes.
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“I instructed them to bring him to the police station for a thorough examination before driving away from the area. The driver called me to apologise a little time later when I was in my office, he added.
He claimed that after the driver expressed demonstrable sorrow, he later called the DPO to get him released; however, he was unaware that the driver had been severely beaten during the detention.
He said, “I found out later that the young man had resisted arrest, which caused a lot of violent behaviour in his arrest.
He also apologised to the young man, his employer GUO, as well as his friends and well-wishers who were mortified by his involvement with the act. “I take full responsibility for all that,” he stated.
The administration of GUO, meantime, declared the incident to be a criminal attack in a statement and promised to seek legal redress for its driver.
The business urged Governor Chukwuma Soludo to denounce the official’s actions and convene an investigation panel into this issue in order to rein in his officials’ excesses and prevent future incidents.
The company apologises to its customers, who it claims were left stuck on the highway and were traumatised by the incident.
“We watched numerous videos from various eyewitnesses of how Onuko’s aides savagely attacked our driver with profound horror.
“We applaud the kind, decent people who saw this terrible, inhumane deed by this political figure and his associates and sought to stop it.
“We are grateful that the driver is currently receiving medical care, and we wish for his full physical and mental recovery.
To ensure that such instances of harsh treatment of individuals do not continue, it declared, “We assure all concerned citizens that we will seek legal redress.”
Police Public Relations Officer in Anambra, DSP Toochulwu Ikenga, verified the event but noted that none of the parties had filed an official police complaint.
Ikenga, on the other hand, claimed to have spoken with the victim, who he claimed was in the hospital and responding to care.
“I am aware of the occurrence, but no complaints have been made to us. I can promise you that the victim is responding to treatment because I spoke with him while he was in the hospital,” he stated.
