Contrary to the claims by the Anambra State government, the members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, involved in the brutal assault by operatives of the Agunechemba have disclosed that they received no form of compensation.
It could be recalled that Governor Charles Soludo had claimed that the state government made restitution to those affected by the actions of the state security operatives.
A video went viral earlier in the week showing the moment the security operatives beat and stripped a female corps member serving in Anambra State.
The video drew outrage from Nigerians, prompting Soludo to make an appearance at Arise News, where he claimed the victims were compensated.
“The briefing I got was that her phone was damaged. Some others' phones were damaged in the process, and there was some restitution to that effect.
“She was taken care of medically, and those guys were apprehended, first suspended, and the investigation ongoing,” Soludo said.
Soludo noted that the victim’s family had initially declined prosecution “for whatever private considerations” but later changed their stance.
However, the victims, who spoke to BBC News Igbo, have now come out to say they received no form of restitution.
They also indicted the NYSC for failing to come to their aid initially, instead asking them to drop the matter.
One of the corpers said in the video that: “the next day, we went to the local government, they said they wanted to settle it.
“They were calling us in separately; they did not want us to come together. I don’t know why they did that, because we were supposed to be together.
“At the end of everything they gave us N10,000 each, telling us that it was for transportation; that they don’t want us to talk to anybody about it.
“I saw online that they said they compensated us; they did not; ‘it was N10,000 and I quote- ‘it was for transportation fare’, nothing to compensate.
“Then after the incident, we were outside, talking about it, then the LGI came said he does not want the issue to escalate; he collected my phone and by himself, deleted the video from my phone.”
Meanwhile, the lawyer to the victims has vowed to pursue justice and ensure that adequate compensation was made to them.
“We are not only going to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but that compensations due, proper substantial compensations are done,” he vowed.
