Actress Elma Godwin shares her encounter with a Policeman who assaulted her in Victoria Island

Actress and TV Host Elma Godwin
has shared details of an unfortunate
encounter she had with a policeman - known for his violent antics at Ligali Ayorinde, VI Lagos. (Banky W confirmed same police man has assaulted him & Lynxxx before and threatened to shoot them).


Elma says not only did he threaten
her to beat her with his belt but also
assaulted her by slamming her
against her car. She tried to call
Emergency number 112, Police
Control and the Rapid Response Squad but got no response and
were advised by someone from the
RRS to 'go home and call back'.

Read her story after the cut...


On our way home on Friday morning at about 12:45am from supporting DJ Obi at his 10-day attempt to beat world record with two of my friends, we stopped to get Sharwama at Maroccaine Restaurant (a popular 24-hr restaurant in Victoria Island).
On our way out, we approached a
police stop with three fully armed
police officers at Ligali Ayorinde and
turned on our inner lights and my
friend driving wound down so they can see we were all harmless girls.
Immediately he started accusing her
of holding something in her hand,
aggressively questioning “what is in
your hand?!". She shows him her
empty hands and he goes on to say that he must search the boot and
demands we come out of the car. I
came out of the car to check this
boot with him, he inspected, found
nothing and before I closed the boot he quickly walked towards the passenger’s door I had left opened
and grabbed my friend’s bag.


She asked him severally to return the bag, and we all started saying "give us the bag!" and then he began to rain insults on us, yelling “What’s in this bag? There is an ‘exhibit' in this bag! I must search this bag!” while continuously flashing his flash light
directly in our eyes like we were
criminals. This did not even allow us
to see his name or his badge so we know how to address him. Bear in
mind we were just 3 girls and officer
2 & 3 stood there doing nothing like
they were waiting for other cars to
harass. So I picked up my phone to
call for help and before I knew it, he forcefully snatched my phone from
hand leaving us in shock, fear and
we frantically started shouting “give
us our phone and bag back!” and
even trying to get the attention of
the few passerbys incase anyone could help. Insults fly as things get
heated up, he threatens us multiple
times that he will use his belt on us
and then I managed to grab my
friend’s bag, but my phone remained in his possession. He started insulting my parents, “God
punish your mother and father! Your father is an idiot!”. He called us
stupid, indisciplined etc. repeating
himself “Am I your mate?”. I scream
“you are holding my property! Give me my phone! This is stealing! The
police are stealing!” and that was
when he released his grip of my
phone and I started walking back to
the car. He chased me and started
pushing me and slammed my body against the car. Thank God my door
was still open I jumped in, locked the door and my friend zoomed off.
As we drove off I felt a sharp pain,
realised I was bleeding on my right
hand and three of my nails had been broken. How can a police officer assault me like this? This is gross misuse of power and brutality.
We called Police Control, Rapid
Response Service (RRS) and the
emergency switchboard (112) who forwarded my number to another
unit. They weren’t helpful at all,
instead asked us what we expect
them to do and were frankly not
concerned. Someone from RRS
advised I go home and call back at 7am. The emergency switch board
told me they would forward my
details and we should expect a call
back… Till now, no call back.

This has opened my eyes to the fact
that WE ARE NOT SAFE IN NIGERIA!!! THERE IS NOTHING LIKE EMERGENCY
RESPONSE.
Think about it… If I were being
brutally raped, robbed or attacked
and I called our so called 'emergency service’, nobody would show up. It’s a sobering thought to think that;
1. The ones who should be
protecting you are the ones to
really be afraid of
2. If something horrible happens,
there’s no calvary, there’s no red
and blue sirens coming to your
aid… YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN!