According to the allegation by one Bulama Bukarti, the officer was alleged to have collected payments from the families of the victims and the alleged buyer of the stolen chickens, before proceeding to torture the men, numbering three.

One of the men reportedly survived and he was the one who narrated the story.

Bulama wrote on Twitter:

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, they’d say ‘hold on’. This morning, BBC Hausa did a story on how a DPO in Bauchi tortured two men to DEATH and left the 3rd with FIVE fractures for allegedly stealing seven CHICKENS.

Here’s what happened according the surviving victim:
The victims were arrested for allegedly stealing seven chickens. The man they sold them to was sommoned and ordered to pay N2,000 each for thirteen, instead of seven chikens, and he did. The suspects were ordered by the DPO to pay N4,000 and their parents paid a total of N12,000.

The DPO told the parents to go; that he’d release the suspects later. He then ordered his officers to tie the suspects up. He told the suspects to be chanting “stealing has ended” in Hausa & started beating them with a big stuff in their legs heads, chests, all over their bodies.

The first suspect died instantly. The second died for head and neck injuries in a hospital. The third is currently home nursing five factures including two on the knees of each leg. The second suspect’s mother related to BBC Hausa how her son died tragically in the hospital.

The Bauchi State Police Cammand said it’s set up a committee to investigate the matter but the DPO was not suspended, much less, arrested. When pressed by BBC, the police spokesman said “You can’t arrest a senior policeman!”.

The alleged torturer is still the DPO of the division.

Incidents like this are all too common in Nigeria, as well as their sheer corruption, that police’s bad reputation in the eyes of Nigerians. I call on the @PoliceNG to take over this matter. The DPO must be investigated and prosecuted for culpable homicide in a transparent way.