A middle-aged man narrowly escaped being lynched after he was beaten by thugs for allegedly fornicating with a married woman in Benin, Edo State.
The man, identified as Ese Idehen, was said to have been caught by a group of boys at a bar on Muritala Muhammed Way.
They were also alleged to have been hired by the estranged husband of the woman, identified as Nagbama Egboigbe, said to be a police sergeant.
A video of the incident, which went viral on the Internet showed Idehen, being beaten up and forced into the boot of a vehicle. His clothes were also torn.
But the woman alleged that she and her estranged husband had been separated for the past nine months.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Nkombe, could not be reached to speak on the matter. Calls made to his telephone were unanswered and he did not respond to a text message sent to him.
However, counsel to Idehen, Jefferson Uwoghiren, said the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Haliru Gwandu, had been petitiooned, calling for an investigation into the matter.
Uwoghiren also accused Egboigbe of allegedly abducting his client and obtaining his confession under duress.
He explained, “The guy procured services of thugs to abduct him. We have written a petition to the police to investigate the criminal act. The woman had come out to deny that he slept with her. They forced him to admit what he did not do.”
The lawyer alleged that the thugs dispossessed his client of his personal belongings while they blindfolded and dumped him on Ihama road at about 11pm.
