The Nigerian Police Force, Rivers State command, said it has arrested the officers who were seen in a viral video assaulting an unidentified man in the state.
The spokesperson for the Force Headquarters, Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this via his official Twitter page.
In the viral video which has been circulating on the Nigerian social media spaces, one of the officers, armed with an AK-47 rifle, is seen slapping the motorist after beating him with a cane.
According to the police spokesperson,the number of officers who were involved in the assault are three and have since been detained by the command.
The Police did not reveal the names, ranks and units of the officers involved but Adejobi noted that the officers’ action was “barbaric” and “does not portray the police in a good light at all”.
The Commissioner of Police in the Southern Nigerian State, Okon Effiong, earlier on Monday ordered the arrest of the officers, and promised to get them sanctioned for their action.
The action of the officers has been widely condemned in a country where Police brutality is not uncommon.
In 2020, a large movement called EndSARS was launched by many Nigerian youth to protest against police brutality in the country.