Lady battered by naval men, looks back in gratitude
… Uzoma Okere, others laud Lagos govt’s humanitarian efforts
By CHIDIEBELE EZEANI and IFEOMA NDUKAUBA

Friday, April 08, 2011
• Uzoma Okere
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Uzoma Okere. Remember her? She’s the lady that was stripped unclothed and battered in Lagos in September 2008 by some naval ratings attached to a senior Naval officer, Rear Admiral Harry Arogundade. The Lagos State government, through the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), later took up her case in court. She eventually got justice, with the court awarding her N100m.

Well, Okere was in the news recently. On March 29, at a forum in Lagos, the lady relived her bitter experiences in the days following her ordeal, even as she heaped praises on the state governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) for coming to her aid in her hour of need.

She spoke at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, at an event to commemorate Fashola’s 1, 400 days in office. Many others, who claimed to have benefited from the state government were at the event to publicly applaud the Fashola administration for always coming to the aid of the citizens in their moments of distress. Okere recalled how she was brutally attacked by the Admiral’s guards that morning. The naval men, who accused the lady of blocking their principal’s convoy, jumped on the lady and thoroughly battered her in the presence of on-lookers. She was thereafter rushed to the hospital by some of those who witnessed the ordeal.

According to her, she never imagined that she would get justice when those angry ratings were humiliating her. She expressed joy that help came from the state government when she never expected it. Her words: “I could have been assaulted and harassed without justice if the state Office of Public Defence initiative was not “conceived, established and effectively operated to help the downtrodden in the state. Even though I am not from Lagos, I benefited from the state’s people-oriented policies.
“I’m grateful to the Lagos State government under Governor Fashola for making an initiative like the OPD work. When I was beaten by those ratings, and Governor Fashola heard about how they dragged me down from my car and assaulted me, he directed the OPD to intervene. I got free legal service from the state and a N100 million claim.”

Justice delayed but not denied, a sterling example  BRF 2011, eko o ni ba je

have they coughed up finally? last i heard they were in court trying to drag the whole thing out

Yet her father who is beneficiary of the rule of law refused to accept a court order and shut Dino maleye out of the National assembly causing serious traffic for days

just like obj reminded us about iyabo. in law there is no link between the father and daughter in this context. perhaps that is a moral issue.
but i think even if she gets paid those who committed the crime still remained unpunished directly. we need a lot more judgments like this to change the attitudes of our security people. i hear the SSS are quite nasty these days.