A trader at the garage, Mrs. Edith Samuel was on Saturday, May 30, 2020 beaten to a pulp and her goods worth thousands of Naira destroyed by a member of Ika North East Market Taskforce who is popularly referred to as Biggy.
Mrs. Samuel was brutally assaulted, sustaining a serious injury on her forehead and also had about 50 crates of eggs meant for sale, destroyed.
While narrating her ordeal at our corporate office on Thursday, June 11, 2020, Mrs. Samuel said that on one fateful day, Biggy came to her, asking her to remove her table where she keeps her goods for sale, saying that the place had been allocated to an undisclosed person, whom he referred to as Honourable.
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Speaking further, she said that before the assault, she had earlier been asked to remove her caravan which she did to start using just showcase to her goods. According to her, Biggy went to her that fateful day ordering her to vacate that spot, saying that the space had been given to one Honourable.
She further revealed that Biggy had also collected the sum of N5,000 from her sometime ago, saying that it was to be paid to the Council in order for her to make use of the space.
She therefore, asked Biggy where she would take her goods to, but Biggy replied that it was none of his business. In the heat of the argument, Biggy threw her table away, destroying about fifty crates of eggs in the process.
According to her, she accosted Biggy while he tried to board a bike to escape from the scene, demanding that he pays for the eggs he had destroyed but Biggy instead, slapped her thrice, hitting her head with a table until she fainted and sustained a severe injury on her forehead.
Continuing, she said that as she fainted, the Okada riders who were at the scene compelled him to take her to the hospital for treatment, but instead of taking her to the hospital, he took her away from the scene of the incident and dumped her on the road to die, saying that it was those who recognized her that rescued and took her to the hospital.
Mrs. Samuel further stated that the matter was reported to the police, but the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), told her that it was a market matter, hence, the case should be taken to the market for settlement.
The assaulted also revealed that the matter was afterwards taken to the Council Chairman, Hon. (Barr.) Victor Ebonka who demanded that her medical bills be paid for, but noted that since after then, she has not heard from anybody as there was no call, visit or money for her treatment.
In a phone chat with the Ika North East Council Chairman, Hon. (Barr.) Victor Ebonka, while countering some of her statements, has opted to give full details of the incident next week.
REPORTED BY NICHOLAS EBEGBONI