It will be recalled that
there was free for all commotion last Thursday at the Kayriott Hoteland Suites, Effurun, near Warri, Delta State, when a team of naval personnel reportedly invaded the guesthouse, brutalized hotel officials,
disarmed and abducted two policemen on guard duty in the hotel following
a heated disagreement with a waitress, over supposed non payment for food and drinks enjoyed by a naval officer and his
friends.
While narrating what happened, proprietor of the hotel, Efe Afe, in a petition to the Chief of Naval
Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibril, dated February 3, said, “One Navy
Lieutenant Akalezie Uche attached to the Nigerian Navy, NNS Delta in Warri,
Delta State, in company of a female friend and another young man visited the
aforementioned hotel and was attended to at the hotel’s pool bar by a waitress
named Rachael Usen.” He went further to say that ”The waitress at the end of
the stay of the above trio demanded payment of the sum of N8,500.00 (Eight
thousand, five hundred naira) for the food, drinks and ice cream which the said
lieutenant and his friends had ordered and consumed, but the lieutenant claimed
that he had already paid
for same to the consternation of
the waitress who insisted that she had not been paid a dime.”
for same to the consternation of
the waitress who insisted that she had not been paid a dime.”
However, it was discovered
that when the mobile police that were on guard at the hotel
tried to apprehend the trio for non settlement of their bill, Lt. Akalezie,
allegedly alerted colleagues from the NNS Delta naval base who stormed the hotel
and the show of shame began.
In an attempt to defend one of their own, NNS
Delta Public Relations Officer, Lt C.I.D Yohana, maintained that the policemen, indeed,
manhandled the navy officer .
Mr.
Aduba. Delta state Commissioner of Police, described the navy’s defence of the
scandalous “feeble attempt” by his naval
counterpart to exonerate his men from the “show of shame”, which he said is a
“height of falsehood,” Noting “the simple fact which is well corroborated by
evidence of eye witnesses is that the two policemen on guard duty at the hotel, fully dressed in service
uniform, were over-powered by the naval personnel who stormed the premises of
the hotel in a commando-like manner; disarmed
the police personnel, battered them to stupor, before abducting them together
with some officials of the hotel to the Naval Base.’
“From
the investigation so far conducted, the bone of contention behind this unholy
act and a seemingly recurring decimal of occurrence between the navy and the
police in the state is the payment of N9,000 for pepper soup and alcoholic beverages consumed by the man who was later identified
as a naval officer and two of his friends at the hotel. An argument ensued between the
said naval officer on civil outfit and the hotel receptionist over the non payment of the said N9,000
for services delivered, in the course of which the naval officer slapped the
receptionist causing her ears to ooze blood.” The Police commissioner added.
In his words, Mr. Aduba, captioned the action of the Naval personnel
as an act of lawlessness: “We want to state clearly that the Police Force still
remains the symbol of government and no profession has the act of lawlessness
as part of its ethics, hence we strongly submit that the act of carrying two
Hilux load of naval personnel – not for the purpose of storming/fighting our
common enemies – the criminals, but rather for the purpose of overpowering
fellow uniformed security personnel on legitimate duty which has occurred
several times in Delta State will certainly not augur well for the good
governance of our country which is the primary purpose of government.”
Culled.
NB: It is high time that the Armed Forces in Nigeria call their
personnel to order, in order to curb their lawlessness in the society.
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