Tuesday, February 9, 2010 22:18

Children protest police brutality in Eket

July 13, 2009 08:15AM

Children from the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network's Centre for Abandoned Children in Eket, Akwa-Ibom State took to the streets on Tuesday to protest alleged police brutality.

Unidentified armed men, who claimed to be policemen, invaded the centre and brutalised the children, numbering over 300, in an effort to arrest the President of the network, Sam Ikpe-Itauma.

The children, who were joined by other children carried placards on the streets and terminated their march at the Eket Police Station.

Some of the placards read: "We are not witches, fake pastors, leave us alone; give us a chance to develop, our rights are endangered; implement the child rights act."

The children were received at the Eket Council Headquarters by the Council's Secretary, Emmanuel Abasiubong, who pledged to make their grievances known to the Akwa Ibom State government.

The children complained of insecurity at the centre and requested police protection.

Police sources said that three children Idong Friday Akpan 11, Stella Okon, 12 and Effiong Sunday, 14 sustained serious injuries and were receiving medical attention at a clinic in Eket.

Back

Dear reader.
While we value your feedback we have to moderate them, so your comments would appear in a maximum of one hour. Please feel free to return and read through again after another user may have replied to what you have said.
Please note that 234NEXT.com bears no responsibility for what readers post, and is not liable for any form of impersonation.

Reader Comments (3)

Posted by charlie on Jul 13 2009

The children in this picture do not seem unhappy.. are we sure we are getting the true story here?

Posted by Emmanuel Udom on Jul 13 2009

THOUGH the children seem to be enjoying themselves,it is barbaric for the Yar Adua regime to be pretending to be an honest and up-right man who is determined to fight injustice and cottuption while police officers are busy harassing innocent children Emmanuel Udom crime correspondent National daily newspaper

Posted by nneoma on Jul 15 2009

@charlie....i had to work very hard to come up with a response that did not degenerate into vitriol of how incredibly stupid your comments are. very hard. anyway, it is possible that the picture of children featured is simply a generic photo of nigerian children...or that these are in fact the children declared as witches who are now happy that they are under the protection of NGOs who value their innocent lives. Charlie, you must be one of those people who relish in the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words since reading comprehension is obviously not your strong suit....