A team of overzealous Officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) have stormed an Abuja Estate brutalizing Security Guards on Duty.
There was panic on June 18th 2023 when the officers accompanied one Mrs. Stella Anugwa, a retired Assistant Comptroller of Immigration to beat and abduct the Guards of Penthouse Estate 3 Lugbe Abuja.
In a Petition by the Residents Association signed by Chairman of the Estate, Mr. A. O Folayan and the Legal Adviser, Barr. Swaben A. Dodo, dated 22nd June 2023, the Association is seeking for justice for the Security Guards.
Trouble started after the son of the Assistant Comptroller of Immigration allegedly breached normal security protocol at the entrance gate until he was forced to stop.
According to the petition which was submitted to the office of the Comptroller General of Immigration, after stopping, the son came down of the car and allegedly slapped the Security Guard on Duty, one Ernest Momoh, who retaliated with immediate effect as the Head Guard separated them.
Moments later, Mrs. Anugwa stormed the Estate with two uniformed armed NIS and two others on musty, who descended on the Head Guard and forced him into the escort jeep and abducted him to neighbouring Lexim 1 Estate where she resides.
Acknowledged Petition
The petition reads “On hearing this, the Chairman of Penthouse Residents Association together with some members of the Estate Security Committee immediately went to Mrs. S. Anugwa’s house and every effort to get her to release the abducted Head Guard was rebuffed despite her affirmation that the guard was not the offending guard.
“She insisted that the “offending” guard, Ernest must be produced. All the while, the Residents’ Association Chairman and his team were confronter with violent threats, by two of our Head guard’s tormentors in Chief who we suspect to be Immigration Service personnel either attached, working, or known to Mrs. Stella Anugwa, that the guard will be carried away from the estate with possible risk of grievous consequences to his life and that nothing will happen.
“In an arrogant display of power and offensive abuse of authority, the armed NIS personnel took over the estate and went in search of the offending guard, Ernest, who fought with the son of Mrs S. Anugwa. They succeeded in bringing him back to Mrs Anugwa’s residence but with the Chair of the Penthouse Estate Security Committee, Mr Musa Lai who insisted he must follow them to wherever they wanted to take him. The whole Estate was thrown into a panic as the access gates were locked to prevent the feared abduction of our guards outside the Estate.
“When the guard, Ernest was requested to narrate the event that led to the scuffle with Mrs Anugwa’s son, he stated that the son was the one that first slapped him for daring to hit the boot of his car in the attempt to get him to stop for a security check. Our request for Mrs. S. Anugwa to bring his yon to narrate his own side of the story was stoutly rejected by her, alleging that all accounts of Ernest as narrated were all lies, even though she was not there when the even happened.
“Presently, the conduct of Mrs. Stella Anugwa, has now become a source of great apprehension to all residents of Penthouse Estate, as we are most certain that if she were to be the one in the car when the incident at our gate occurred, then greater violence would have been visited not just on our guards but also on residents by the armed NIS guards. Now, we do not know who her next target of arrogant, and unprofessional abuse of authority will be. Sadly, the only access road to Lexim I Estate where Mrs S. Anugwa resides is through the Penthouse Estate entrance gate. The guards her people grievously assaulted are the same guards that man our gate and who do extend by their work schedule, the usual courtesies of checking vehicle boots, opening and closing of the gates, which Mrs S. Anugwa and her family equally each time residents enter or exit the Penthouse Estate. Sadly too, this unfortunate incident with Mrs. S. Anugwa is just another in a series of her uncivilized conduct in the past.
The Drum Reporter also gathered that the Phone of one of the Security Guards was smashed and destroyed.
The smashed Phone
The Estate called on the acting Comptroller General of NIS to call Mrs. Anugwa to order and ensure that justice is served to serve as deterrent to others.
