Nigeria, Jan. 24 -- A school pupil has been hospitalised after a motorcycle crash in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, triggering sharply conflicting accounts, with the police denying brutality claims while the victim's family insists a police action caused the injury.

A Facebook user, Promise Essien, on 20 January, addressed an online letter to the Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom, Baba Azare, alleging that a police officer attached to F-Division, Ikot Ambang, assaulted a minor.

"I am writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding a disturbing incident involving a police officer who physically assaulted and verbally abused a minor who was in school uniform at the time, on top of a motorcycle, which led to the breaking of his hand," the letter ...