Lawyer petitions IGP over assault

A lawyer, Halima Aminu Mohammed, has asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to order an investigation into alleged assault she suffered at a police station in the hands of the wife of a police commissioner.

Ms. Mohammed, in the petition by her counsel, Barrister Abdul Oroh, alleged that she was physically assaulted by Mrs. Habiba Ali Janga, wife of a police commissioner in charge of Kaduna State, while representing her client, a tailor, who Mrs. Janga gave some clothes to sew about two years ago.

Explaining the circumstances leading to the incident in the petition, Oroh said when Ms. Mohammed and Ibrahim, the tailor, went to the police station on December 3, as directed by the police, a verbal altercation ensued between Ibrahim and Mrs. Janga.

“Our client (Ms. Mohammed), who stood as a lawyer to the suspect tried to appeal to Mrs. Habiba Janga Ali to calm down. Rather than listen to the plea to calm down by our client, Mrs. Ali Janga, without any provocation and with the aid of her mother, whom she came with, descended on her (Ms. Mohammed) and viciously attacked and assaulted her in the presence of the police officers who could do nothing to stop her from attacking a lawyer at the police station,” the petition read in part.

Ms. Mohammed lamented that the assault was so serious that she was left with a bump on her forehead and bruises all over her face.

“We therefore demand on behalf of our client that you (IGP) cause an investigation to be carried out on this matter with a view of possible prosecution and also to protect the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) from possible contamination from powerful individuals within the police and their families,” the petition, which was stamped received on December 12, concluded.