The Association of Technology Inclined Visually Impaired person of Nigeria were brutalized by the security guard attached to the Federal Civil Service Commission Abuja.
Earlier today, The association, held a peaceful protest to persuade the commission to heed their request for employment but the table turned around when the guards pounced on the defenceless jobseekers.
The President of the association, Tolulope Aluko who was speaking on the incident, said they had been seeking employment from the commission since 2020 and have over the years approached different stakeholders for help.
He said, “We visited the commission in July last year and we were told to come back. We came back again on April 11, but they didn’t answer us.
“When we came today (Tuesday), they said we should come back, but we refused to leave. We started protesting peacefully. The press came, but immediately they left, the security guards started beating us and destroyed our things.”
Aluko also said that among their members seeking employment were first degrees, masters, and PhD holders.
Akinyemi Akinola, one of the persons pounced on by the security, lamented that they only wanted the government to help them due to their condition.
He said,” We can’t drive commercial vehicles. What we can do is to get educated and see how we can contribute to the country. That’s what we came here to do only for them to wreak havoc on us. Some of us have been hospitalised. Our phones were smashed and taken away so we couldn’t record.”
According to him the security men shot three times into the air to scare them before picking the shells to erase any evidence.
“The operatives said they acted on the instruction given by the permanent secretary of the commission and the chairman. There was reinforcement, but when they saw that we were unarmed, they withdrew,” he added.
Daniel Showumi, a university graduate, who claimed to have also been brutalised, said they were hoping the commission would respond to them before the guards came.
He said, “We thought if they saw us with our condition, they would help us. Some who started this journey with us in 2020 have died because of hunger. So, we decided to come there today (Tuesday).
“The security came to drag me from where I stood and started hitting me against the floor until blood was coming from my head. I escaped and he followed me. They destroyed all our things, including the food we brought.”
The commission had pledged five per cent of the jobs in the civil service to people living with disabilities in a press release on April 13.
Contacted for a reaction, the commission’s Deputy Director, Press & Public Relations, Alaba Balogun, said he did not have the authority to speak on the matter.
He said, “It is only the authorities that can speak on this matter.”