24th February, 2011
Men of the newly reconstituted security outfit in Edo State Operation Thunder Storm have been accused of multiple rape and robbing of residents of 146, Auchi Road, Benin City, the state capital, South-South, Nigeria.
According to Mrs. Asemota, 60, the cops stormed her restaurant at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday and ordered all the people inside to raise their hands.
The restaurant operator claimed that the men of Operation Thunder Storm raped her 16 attendants under gun point and also robbed her of about N150,000 being the sales proceeds of the day.
Addressing journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Press Centre, Benin City, Mrs. Asemota expressed outrage at the incident.
She said: “I came to narrate this ugly incident to the press so that you can tell Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the people of Edo State the evils that operatives of Operation Thunder Storm have done and that those who were expected to fight crime are criminal-minded people.
One of the ladies working in Mrs. Asemota’s restaurant, (names withheld) told journalists that she had contacted a lawyer to seek redress for being raped by men of the security outfit.
“They were so daring. The men did not care about contracting HIV/AIDS from their victims. How can I be sure the animals have not ruined my life forever?†she sobbed.
One of the male victims who followed Mrs. Asemota to the NUJ Press Centre who spoke under the condition of anonymity said he was beaten and robbed of all the valuables on him.
He said he had not been able to sleep because of the trauma of the incident.
Contacted on phone, head of Operation Thunder Storm, Major Yesuf simply replied “Okay†and thereafter switched off his set.
—Yomi Obaditan/Benin