Lagos Police Finally Reacts To Viral Video Of It’s Officers Assaulting Bank Customer

The police in Lagos have reacted to a viral video where its officers assaulted a Kuda bank customer.

The command spokesperson, Ben Hundeyin, via his Twitter handle on Wednesday explained that a fraudulent transaction occurred in the customer’s account and they got a court order to freeze it.

He said when the microfinance bank customer, Qudus Abdulgafar, came to the bank, he chose to create a scene in the banking hall.

An uproar ensued after a video surfaced on Tuesday showing two men in police uniform assaulting the customer.

In the video, the customer lay on the floor while one of the two police officers held his trousers in a move to arrest him.

According to AbdulGafar Jamiu, the victim’s elder sibling, Qudus, a POS operator, on Tuesday, went to the Lagos-based bank to enquire why they froze his account.

But instead, he was tear-gassed, injured, and arrested by the police.

The elder brother explained that Mr Jamiu had transferred N577,491 from his Moniepoint account on April 13 to his Kuda account but it was flagged by the bank.

“Abdulqudus went to the bank and created a scene. Naturally, police officers were called in to save the situation,” Mr Hundeyin said.

“Abdulqudus assaulted the officers (a criminal offence) in his bid to resist them, pulling off one button on a police officer’s uniform.

“As permitted by law for police officers to use minimal force to effect an arrest, Abdulqudus was restrained, arrested and handed over to the team investigating the fraudulent transaction on his account.”

Mr Hundeyin said he spoke to the relatives of the detainee and his lawyer adding that the viral video did not capture how the customer created a scene before the intervention of the policemen.

“It is quite unfortunate that available videos do not show what transpired before the police were called in. Investigation is ongoing and Abdulqudus is currently at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti Lagos,” he said.