Judicial Panel On Police Brutality: Man Reveals How Akpabio Pulled Off His Teeth With Pliers

- March 05, 2021

… Injured On Head By Gunshot

By Our Reporter

Mr. Udo Gordian Godwin, a middle aged man from Nko in Obot Akara Local Government of Akwa Ibom State has recounted before the Judicial Panel of Investigation on the Incidences of Police Brutality sitting Uyo his experience in the hands of Supol Idorenyin Akpabio in August 2016 at the outskirt of Uyo, the state capital.

Mr. Godwin, a taxi driver-turned teacher, in his petition filed on 17^th December 2020 before the Panel, said he was stopped and brutalized by a relative to the former governor Godswill Akpabio, who was with other police officers. He said the incident occurred at about 8.00pm at opposite Methodist Church Utu Ikot Ekpene as he was returning with his passenger from Uyo to Ikot Ekpene.

The witness said Supol Akpabio, along with five other policemen had attempted to seize his car key, but on refusing to release it, they shot in the air to chase away the passengers, while pinning him to the ground, then shot him by the left side of the head, and used a pair of pliers to remove his incisors.

After the alleged abuse, Mr. Udo Godwin said he was put in the boot of a Volvo car to De Mark Clinic behind e-Library along IBB Way, Uyo for treatment.

In his testimony, he said: “I was a taxi driver as at the time of the incident but now I am a secondary school teacher. I know Idorenyin Akpabio only at the night of the incident in August 2016 at about 8pm opposite Methodist Church Utu Ikot Ekpene along Ikot Ekpene Road. I never knew Idorenyin before that time but he told me he is Idorenyin Akpabio, a police officer and the brother of the former governor of the state. He was with five other men and he was the tallest and gallant among them. I carried six (6) passengers on board my vehicle. As I was going from Uyo to Ikot Ekpene that night, I parked because a passenger was about to be alighted. As I parked, the head lamp of my vehicle flashed into their eyes. Idorenyin Akpabio came to where I parked my car and asked me to off my engine and to give him the car key but I refused. I put my key inside my inner pocket. He fired some shots into the air and scared away the passengers. I was left alone with these six hefty men. So he called five others to pin me down. While I was down, he brought out pliers from his pocket, used it to force two of my upper front teeth out of my mouth. Within seconds, my teeth were gone. They took me in the boot of their Volvo to De Mark Clinic behind e-Library along IBB way Uyo for treatment, while Idorenyin drove separately in a private car. He did not give me any injection before he pulled out my teeth, I felt so much pain. He gave me gun shot on the left side of my head, (showing the Panel the scar of the injury). According to the Doctor, Idorenyin paid for all my medical bills at the clinic.”

Godwin further said that the doctor had advised that he see a psychiatrist for re-examination because of the effect of abnormal sound from the gun shot which still affect his senses. According to him, the Doctor also called Idorenyin Akpabio to take him to a psychiatric hospital but he refused.

The witness said he visited the SARS Unit in Ikot Ekpene to demand that Supol Idorenyin Akpabio pay him for removing his teeth and to also take him to the psychiatric hospital as the doctor advised but they threatened to detain him, making him run away.

Udo Godwin said, based on the Doctor’s advice, he had to charter a commercial motorcycle for N5,000 to take him to a psychiatric hospital in Calabar at the time. According to him, during that period, it was difficult for people to go to Calabar because of bad road.

On reaching the hospital, he said the management refused to attend to him because he went there alone, saying he was not suppose to visit the psychiatric hospital alone, hence they turned down giving him medical attention. According to him, “I have not gone there again because my own madness was not of high degree like the patients I met there.”

He called on the Panel to invite Idorenyin Akpabio to come and defend himself, while disclosing that he had already reported the case to the state Commissioner of Police and Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Zone 6, saying he has obtained the acknowledgement copies of the petitions.

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