The International Press Centre (IPC), has made a passionate appeal to the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State to immediately intervene in the matter between journalist Casmir Ozuruigbo and a group of police officers who reportedly subjected him to shocking and unbelievable inhuman treatment between midnight on Sunday, October 2, 2022, and the early hours of Monday, October 3, 2022, in Oshodi area of Lagos.
IPC also urged Sanwo-Olu to exercise his authority as the Chief Security Officer of Lagos to direct or advise the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, to promptly constitute an investigative panel of inquiry into the circumstances that led to the molestation of the journalist by his personnel so that the alleged perpetrators could be brought to immediate justice.
In a statement by the press freedom officer of IPC, Mrs. Melody Lawal, IPC said it is a matter of grave concern that a citizen could be molested with such level of impunity, leading to life threatening injuries.
In his personal account to IPC, Ozuruigbo said he was picked by policemen from Akinpelu Police Station, Bolade, Oshodi at about midnight on Sunday October 2, 2022, on the alleged offence of “moving in the night”.
Ozuruigbo also claimed that neither the policemen who arrested him nor the DPO of Akinpelu Police Station gave him the opportunity to identify himself, noting that, they were offended because he insisted on speaking to his lawyer before making a statement.
His first distress message to IPC at about 6pm on Monday October 3, 2022 read: “I was manhandled by police last night”. At 9.53pm, he sent another message on the injury inflicted on him as follows: “I’m just walking out of the surgical emergency department of LASUTH where I went to run some tests. The two tympanic membrane of ear is totally torn from the beating and punching I got on my ear. I’m bleeding from the ear right now”.
“IPC totally condemns the abominable act by the security operatives and hopes the alleged perpetrators will be made to face the consequences of their unwelcome actions.”
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
