A lawyer-cum-activist Ayo Sogunro has narrated how a visit to his hotel room by a married female acquaintance landed him in an Abuja police cell.
Sogunro, in a lengthy thread on Twitter, detailed how policemen in Abuja forced their way into his hotel room, harassed and arrested him on Friday evening.
His tweet reads in part: “I had come to Abuja to facilitate a human rights meeting with several NGOs, and my accommodation was also booked at the hotel where the meeting would be taking place.
“Soon as I landed, I sent messages to my friends in Abuja confirming that I was around.
“As always, whenever I am in Nigeria, my friends would come to welcome me at my accommodation, share a drink or two, and generally gist. This time was no different.
“One of them promised to stop by on her way home from work, also in the area.
“Of the people I texted, she was the first to get to my place. I checked into the hotel around 6.20 pm, and she got there around 6.40 pm. Barely 15 minutes later, three police officers came to my door.
“When the police arrived at my door, they asked to be let inside. I denied them entrance and told them they had no authority to enter a private space without a warrant or a clear just cause. Instead, they just pushed me aside and made their way in.
“On seeing my friend, they asked her to come with them. We both asked why. The police replied that because my friend was a married woman, she should not have been in the hotel with me.
“I said this was ridiculous. She was a citizen of Nigeria and had a right to meet with anyone. The officers insisted that she must come with them and so must I for ‘questioning’.”
He stated more officers soon arrived at the scene, and there were six policemen around, while hotel staffs were also at the scene.
“Eventually, the officers got fed up with my refusal to voluntarily accompany them and then said they were putting me under arrest — still no clear allegation or reason,” Sogunro added.
“My friend and I then followed them out of the hotel where a van was waiting, and they took us to the station.
“Up to this point, I still had my phone on me. I wasn’t touched or cuffed or assaulted by the officers. Our interaction throughout was verbal only. I was able to use my phone to make calls and alert people about what was unfolding.”
He said they were taken to the station where he came face-to-face with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who mentioned it was forbidden for a married woman to visit a man particularly according to the operational penal code of Northern Nigeria.
He said the police “got fed up with his sermon” and the DPO ordered he be booked and taken a cell.
However, the next day which was Saturday, Sogunro noted he wrote a statement, made peace with the police and was released.
With his recent experience, Sogunro expressed there were “systemic issues in the policing process that needed to be addressed,” and he worried about how the less-privileged citizens might be unable to stand up for themselves.
