The Rivers state police command has reacted to a viral video showing an Inspector lying on the ground and being flogged for alleged drug use by some youths of Nkpolu-Rumuigbo community in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state.
The command, in a statement by its spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, gave a different account of the incident, saying that the Inspector was attacked and robbed by the youths.
Iringe-Koko said from the account of her colleague (Inyang), he was on his way home from work and branched off to see his pregnant girlfriend when about 20 youths, including their president, confronted him.
The police image maker further said the Inspector explained that the youths beat him up, dragged him to the main road, seized his ID card and mobile telephone while recording him on video, and forced him to transfer N78,000 from his bank account.
While condemning the act, she said nobody has the right to take the law into their hands, saying the youth president and others would be invited to the command to come with evidence of their claims against the Inspector.
The statement titled, ‘Assault and Stealing Incident Reported Against Police Officer in Nkpolu’, reads, “On 24th August 2025, at about 1:40 p.m., one Inspector of Police, Joshua Nyian, attached to the Woji Division, reported a case of assault and stealing.
“According to the report, at about 10:20 a.m. on the same date, while returning from work, the officer stopped at Nkpolu to see his woman friend, who is pregnant for him. He was suddenly accosted by the Nkpolu youth president, the community chairman, and about 20 youths.
“They allegedly assaulted him by beating him up, dragged him to the main road, seized his police identity card and phone, recorded him on video, and forcefully collected the sum of N78,000 from him.
“The officer further alleged that the youth president had been making advances to his woman friend, which may have prompted the attack.
““The officer’s statement was voluntarily recorded, and a medical form was issued to him for treatment.
“Frantic efforts are ongoing for the youth president, with others involved, to come forward with their evidence.
It was reported that on Sunday some youths raided hideouts and arrested three suspects, including a Police Inspector identified as Joshua Nyian, for allegedly being involved in the use and selling of substances believed to be drugs.
Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday, the youth president of the community, Chamberlain Ohonda, lamented that drugs had destroyed the lives of some of their youths, with some selling lands and houses to buy substances.
He further said some who are indulging in the act had dropped out of school, losing their minds and becoming a threat to others.
Ohonda said, “The attitude of our youths is an eyesore. Most of our youth have dropped out of school because of drugs.
” Most of the nuisance and criminal activities are being caused by them. We discovered that some of them were selling their property kept by their father as a result of drugs.
“Not that they are selling these properties outright. They are selling them by the level of drugs they are taking. A property worth N20m to N30m would be sold for N5m. The drug dealer (the purchaser) would not give them N1m.”
He thanked the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for working with the community to tackle the problem, even as some women in the community lauded the youths for rising to the occasion and urged them to continue until the menace is stopped.
“There is a campaign going on in our community headed by the youths of Nkpolu through the strength they gave me as the youth president to say ‘Operation no drug’. We have discovered that some of our children don’t have homes.
“Some of the properties that their parents struggled to acquire, they are selling off for drugs. Not that they are selling them to travel out. What they normally do is that after smoking drugs worth N3m, they would sell their houses for N4m. The drug dealer (purchaser of the property) would now give them N1m.
“Nkpolu has decided collectively that nothing, like drugs, is allowed in this community. No drug dealer, no drug smoker.”
Addressing another unnamed suspect identified as a native, he said, “This one is our community brother from Nkpolu-Rumuigbo. Two days ago, we went to his house and we saw five girls, two boys around 2:45am; all of us said we were not going to sleep until you people (the suspects) left here (chased out of the community).”
One of the women said, “You see some children, the way they behave, you will know that they are not mentally alright. Some of them are selling their property or the one their parents left, just to smoke.
“You will see a young boy moving around the community naked. It is very wrong. So we support what the youths are doing to stop it.”
