Irate youths in Ashama community, Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State on Wednesday morning allegedly flogged a vigilante boss in the area, Tony Osamor, fifty strokes of the cane for impounding a motorcycle in response to a recent ban placed on motorcyclists in the area.
It was reliable gathered that Osamor and his group members allegedly impounded a motorcycle of motorcyclist that was operating at late hour contrary to the by-law recently passed by Aniocha South Local Government which banned motorcyclists from operating beyond 8:00pm.
The victim, Osamor, who confirmed the incident to DAILY POST in Asaba, said: “we arrested one Nwachukwu, who is a motorcycle operator at about 12:00am. The following day, we carried the motorcycle to the police station in Ogwashi-Uku and deposited it there, only for somebody to call me that the Obi (Royal father of the community) had directed the youth leader, one Chukwudi Ijeh and his boys to arrest me, bring me to the palace for impounding the motorcycle”.
He explained that while on his way to the palace the following day, some of the youths allegedly descended on him with broken bottles, insisting that he should be stripped naked, and taken to the palace. When he resisted, they allegedly tied his hands, and began to flog him over fifty strokes of the cane.
Osamor said: “I was stabbed on the back, and right hand by the irate youths. Those who wanted to broker peace were also beaten, and given strokes of cane, I have never seen before a situation an advanced man was flogged as if were in primary school, or primary one pupil, I have reported the matter to the police in the area”.
But the youth president in the community, Chukwudi Ijeh, when contacted on the phone by our correspondent, denied any complicity in the matter, saying that he had no issue with anybody and should not be dragged into the matter.
While police officers at the Ogwashi-Uku Police Division, who did not want their names in print, confirmed the report, the Royal Father of the community, HRH (Obi) Solomon Iwum, in a telephone chat, denied any crisis in the community, maintaining that the matter was a face-off between the youths, and that he never directed the youths to attack anybody or Tony Osamor.
He told DAILY POST that: “I got wind of the incident, and I cautioned the youths, I can assure you there is peace, but I state clearly that Tony Osamor is not the vigilante chairman of Ashama community. From what I learnt, he was wounded when he fought with the youths of the community”.
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