A 32-year-old man arrested by Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command, for allegedly deploying street urchins and thugs to fight a total stranger he met in a hotel has insisted that he is innocent of the robbery allegation over which he is being detained.
Emmanuel Owotutu, who is now cooling his heels in SARS’ cell at GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, said he merely challenged a man he sighted at a hotel in New Era part of of Iyana-Ipaja, a suburb of Lagos, coming out with his wife. But he said he was accused of masterminding some looting and armed robbery carried out in the hotel by some urchins and thugs he deployed to fight the man.
Explaining why he was being detained by the police, Owotutu, a native of Abeokuta, Ogun State, who resides at No 37, Adealu area of Agege, said: “I am a DJ and I do commercial entertainment or what we call public show for people who hire us. I am married with two children and all of them are living with me in Lagos.”
Asked why he was arrested, he said: “Nobody arrested me. I was the one that went to Moshalashi Police Station to report people who beat me up and damaged my bus for challenging them for taking my wife to a hotel without my consent. The police station is in Gowon Estate, Iyana Ipaja. Instead of listening to me, they said that I was under arrest and ended up detaining me after telling me that some people had already lodged a complaint of vandalisation, stealing and armed robbery in a hotel bar where I confronted them with the people I had called to help me avenge the beating they meted out to me and for destroying my bus.
“They told me that I was being arrested because those who had misunderstanding with me had reported at the police station before I came to lodge my own complaint, hence I was tagged the suspect while they were tagged the complainants. The complainants are two women, one Hellen Okewu and another.
“The incident occurred on May 4 and I was transferred to SARS’ cell on May 5 this year. I became the suspect only because they reported at Gowon Police Station before me. They said I stole a laptop, a phone and N6,000.
“I told them at the police station that somebody took my wife to a hotel around New Era side from Iyana Ipaja and that I was just performing in a showbiz when somebody called me on the phone that somebody had taken my wife to the hotel. So, I ran to the hotel and found that it was true.
“When I got to the hotel, I waited outside. Less than 30 minutes later, my wife and the man came out. I did not know him. He was holding a toothpick. I asked him politely what he was doing there and why he took my wife to the hotel, but the man just removed the toothpick from his mouth and pushed me aside.
“Since the guy did not answer, I faced my wife and asked what she was doing at the hotel at that time of the day. It was between 8.20 and 9.00 pm. She said she wanted to collect money from the man. I slapped her.
“When I slapped her again, three guys who were seated in the hotel’s bar with the man and drinking beer became aggressive. I would not know whether they were bodyguards to the guy who took my wife there.
“By the time I slapped my wife again, the three guys stood up and asked why I was beating that girl? Imagine, they called my wife that girl.
“Before I knew it, the three guys descended on me, beating me to a pulp. They punched me in the eyes and wounded me. I was bleeding profusely. When the people around noticed what was happening, they came nearer and helped to stop the fight. That gave me the opportunity to run away because they were trying to beat me again. I left my bus and ran away.
“But I did not run far. I hid somewhere around. I later decided to go to where I was playing so that I would come back later to carry my bus. When I got there, I told them that I would not be playing again and that I wanted to return my instruments. They asked me why I did not want to play again and I told them that somebody took my wife to a hotel and that three people beat me up for asking them what they were doing with my wife, the mother of my children.
“The people were angry that they did that to me and said we should go and see them. Four men followed me from where I was playing. When we got to the bar, I showed them the man that took my wife and his two bodyguards who beat me up.
“The men who followed me scattered their drinking table and the two bodyguards ran into the hotel. I saw a guy in the hotel who begged me to talk to the four men that came with me on revenge mission to stop fighting and scattering the table.
“I did not know that the two bodyguards who ran into the hotel had gone to call the area boys in the hotel. They came out with more than six hefty men clutching wine glasses and cigarettes. They came and started fighting the four guys who had come with me. I ran and hid myself and was watching them from a distance.
“The four men I brought ran away and the other men started vandalizing my bus. They opened the door of my bus and damaged the glasses. I could not face them alone so I ran to the police station to report them, at Gowon Estate.
“At the police station, they told me that the people who fought with me had come before me to report. They obtained my statement and put me in the cell. They called my wife and detained her too.
The Police said the men I took to the hotel stole laptops, phones and money and that was why they damaged my bus. I told the police that they were the ones that damaged my bus and that nobody stole any laptop.
“They said they should go and get the four men I brought to the hotel bar before they would release me. I told the police to release me. Since my bus was with them, I would not run, but they refused.
“I then told them that I would repair my bus by myself. I also told them that I have an ipad which I use for my showbiz. I told them that I would buy another one and one laptop.
“The woman that sells pepper soup in the bar claimed that her pepper soup was wasted as a result of the fight and that she lost N6,000. I asked how much everything would cost so that I would pay and end the trouble, and he said N200,000.
“I asked where I would see N200,000. How much do I charge for my showbiz? I told them I have the highest mixer for my DJ thing and I can sell it for N450,000. I said they could keep it and she said no problem. They said they would release me.
“I called my brother and he said he would arrest those people. I have been in cell for close to three weeks now. My lawyer and the girl came and said they would go to court.
“I kept my son somewhere. My mother came and wanted to pay the complainants N100,000 to settle everything but they refused. They say they want to go to court.
“I am starving. I want to go home. Tell them to release me. I want to go home.”
The police said Owotutu would be charged for malicious damage, stealing and robbery, saying that the complainants are two women that were robbed. Even the person he accused of taking his wife to the hotel was said not to have shown up yet.