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  • How police men brutalised me, forcibly collected N2.6m —Lagos businessman

    How police men brutalised me, forcibly collected N2.6m —Lagos businessman

    A Lagos-based transporter has cried out for help after some operatives of the Zone 2 Police Headquarters who allegedly arrested his trucks and drivers forcibly extorted him of over N2.5 million reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

    Amardeen Onikunkewu had no inkling of the fate that awaited him on August 3 when he rushed out of his home to seek the release of his drivers from the grip of policemen attached to Zone 2 headquarters, Lagos. The truck drivers were said to be on their way to deliver some goods for a food processing company when they were flagged down by the cops around the Sagamu axis of Ogun State.

    Onikunkewu, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Olaiya Logistics Limited, said he tried to intervene in the matter for possible release of his drivers and trucks with registration numbers BDG 227 YD and APP 730 YA when the police team assaulted and extorted him to the tune of over N2.5 million, which they forced him to transfer in various sums to some POS operators (Omolara and Kehinde and Aminat) who in turn released the money in cash to the policemen.

    He said: “On August 4, 2023, I got a call from one Kazeem who said that one Joshua gave him my contact and that he wanted to hire my trucks to deliver some goods for his employers, a food processing company, in Abuja. I knew the said Joshua was one of the leading persons that give me haulage jobs hence I accepted to deliver the goods for N750,000 but we eventually settled for N600,000.

    ”I went to the location where the goods were being loaded into the trucks and I gave my drivers and their assistants some money for their trip and left the place. I demanded an upfront payment after the goods were loaded into my trucks but I was told that I would be paid afterwards. Strangely, when my drivers gave me the waybill of the job, I saw Auchi, Delta State, and Oyo on the document.

    “While the trucks were waiting to fuel, they were again asked to proceed to Mile 2 to pick up some goods. So I asked my drivers to take the trucks back to the yard.

    Read Also:Oborevwori urges police to investigate brutal killing of school teacher

    “It was while they were trying to park the trucks that some policemen from Zone 2 headquarters stormed the place and arrested my drivers.”The transporter explained that when he was told that the police had intercepted his drivers and trucks, he quickly rushed to the scene and tried to introduce himself as the owner of the vehicles, but his intervention was met with severe brutality that left him with serious injuries.

    “When I went to the policemen, they came up with various reasons for arresting my drivers and trucks. First, they claimed my drivers were smoking Indian hemp, and they later said they were caught with some prostitutes.

    “They demanded that I get them some drinks before we could talk about securing freedom for my driver and trucks.

    “They said the only thing that could enable us to discuss how to prevent my drivers and trucks from being taken to their office was if I paid for the beer they bought from a woman at the filling station where my trucks were intercepted.

    “They collected my ATM and paid for the drinks.

    “Before then, they had collected my phone, and as I was about to pee at a spot near the fuelling point, they saw the balance on my bank account when the notification of the payment for their drinks was sent to my phone. They pounced on me from behind and hit me with the butt of their rifles.

    “When I asked why I was being brutalised, they further dealt me slaps and blows and threatened to demobilise me completely if I did not cooperate with them.

    “They beat me mercilessly and dragged me into their patrol vehicle in handcuffs and zoomed off to their office where they further kicked and slapped me.

    “They dragged me out of their vehicle like a criminal and meted out inhuman treatment to me. They detained me and my drivers and prevented us from reaching out to my family, having seized my phone.

  • How I was abducted, raped repeatedly and brutalised for five days, by undergraduate (II)

    It’s by far one of the most horrific experiences any young girl could be subjected to. Five days of abduction, rape and the worst of brutalisation. This is the concluding part of the story of Cece (not real name), and her roommate, undergraduates of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU who were abducted by a supposedly movie producer. By DORCAS EGEDE.

    DAY four, Friday, 25th May

    “The morning of Friday, my roommate came to tell me that Taylor said he needed N20,000 and was asking how we could arrange for the money. I told her that I would call someone. She went to tell him. But he came into the room and said, ‘You that told your roommate, don’t come, don’t come, you want to call someone else and say, don’t send, don’t send.’ I told him I wasn’t going to do that, but he got angry, said I was arguing with him because I could speak English and slapped me so forcefully, my head hit the wall. I couldn’t understand what I did to earn that slap.

    “He then gave me my phone to call. I called a friend of mine and told him I needed money for school stuff, but he said he had just stocked his shop and could only part with N10,000. Taylor switched on my roommate’s phone and a call came in from one of my 100-Level roommates. He asked my roommate to put the phone on speaker. The caller said my dad had been trying to reach me for the past few days that I should try and get back to him. She asked if my roommate had seen me, and Taylor told her to say no. She did. He now ended the call and asked me to call my dad. My dad didn’t pick at first, but he called back. He sounded worried. He asked where I had been and I told him my phone was bad and I was repairing it.”

    As it were, it was as if Taylor’s prayer was being answered. Cece’s father informed her that he wanted to send her tuition fee. Despite her insistence that it wasn’t time to pay her fees yet, as the portals were yet to be opened to those of them that switched department, he told her he would send the money anyway, and she could keep it till it was time to pay. All along, Taylor who had just been discussing about raising N20,000, was smiling as he listened on. “When I dropped the call, he said, ‘oh, you wanted to trick your father not to send the money? I knew you were going to do something like that. That’s how you told your friend not to come; now you’re telling your father not to send the money. Instead of you to be happy that your father wants to bail you out with this N20,000.’ “I tried to explain why I didn’t want my father to send the money because I couldn’t pay the fees as a result of changing my course. He got angry again and asked Segun to remove the wire connecting his bulb in the parlour and used it to flog me. He went and brought one walking stick and flogged me with it. As he did, he hushed my roommate to silence with the threat of beating her too. My roommate urinated on her body where she stood helplessly watching him beat me.

    “He told me that the friend I called wasn’t going to send the money, that I called someone as stupid as myself. He threatened to call my father and blackmail him into paying N1.5m. I didn’t know what to say. At some point, my roommate and I thought this was the way we would end, but we kept telling each other that everything would be fine.

    Soon, my father sent the N20,000. After my dad sent the N20,000, he told me that if by 4:58, my friend didn’t send the N10,000, he was going to kill me and would have no choice but to kill my roommate. He asked her if she contacted the police before coming, she told him she didn’t have an idea anything was wrong and didn’t tell the police anything.

    “Now, there was N30,000 in my account. But instead of that to placate him, he started another issue ‘How can your father just send the money like that? You haven’t called your father throughout this week and he just sent you money? Does any father send his child money without the child disturbing him? You and your father have conspired to call the police, right? You don’t know I’m the one that designed the first ATM machine? If someone is at your back holding a gun to you that you should withdraw your money, just press your pin backward; in the next five minutes, the police will be behind the person.’”

    “When we told him we didn’t know this, he called Segun and told him to leave the ATM machine immediately if it does not respond to his command. Thereafter, he and Segun left. He locked me and my roommate in the room till nightfall. We got dressed and waited, hoping that when they returned, he would give us some money to return to Ife as he promised. However, when he returned at night, he took another look at me and said, ‘I want to treat your fuck-up.’ He said he wanted to treat my-fuck up because up till that time I still wasn’t scared of him. He then told me to remain in the room: ‘I don’t want to see your face. I am irritated by your face.’  I was in the room when I overheard him saying he was going to call someone to treat my fuck up.

    “I later heard him calling a guy he told to ‘show,’ because he has money. While I was still in the room, he told my roommate that he was going to take her out to see how she would act in public; that he couldn’t take me out because he didn’t trust me. He kept a screw driver in his pocket. He took her out and locked me in the room. In less than five minutes, they returned. He continued the talk about treating my fuck-up.

    Soon, his friend showed up. The girls soon learnt that the new guys name was Ola. “Taylor introduced my roommate to the guy as his girlfriend. He then asked my roommate to bring me from the room. She did. When she brought me to the parlour, Taylor told the guy that I said my greatest fantasy was to be gang raped by 10 guys. The guy looked at me as if to ask if I really said that. Then, the guy asked me if I wanted to speak with him privately. I said yes.

    “This apparently angered our abductor and again he gave me another ferocious slap. He asked what I wanted to talk to his friend about. He faced the guy and asked, ‘Ola, what do you want to talk to this girl about?’ Ola said he just wanted to talk to me privately, but Taylor refused and reiterated, ‘I said this girl wants to be gang-raped by 10 guys, she doesn’t need talking to. She wants to be treated like a dog…’ he tried to rip off my shirt in front of Ola. He hit me as I tried to struggle with him. He unbuttoned my shirt, brought out my breast and said, ‘Can’t you see, she has beautiful breasts?’

    “Ola asked me why I wanted to be gang-raped by 10 guys; I told him it is out of peer pressure. At this point Ola stood up and said he wanted to go home. He left. Then Taylor came to me and said, ‘You see, you’re possessed. Nobody wants to sleep with you; even Segun that is an illiterate said you’re dirty. I must still treat your fuck up this night. He continued hammering on why I told my roommate, ‘don’t come, don’t come.’ and brutalised me on every occasion.

    “Later that night, I was sitting on a chair close to him while he was eating moi-moi. This Stevie, he eats raw pepper. The moi-moi he was eating, apart from being hot, was also very peppery. He tried to slap me and as I tried to block him, he put the moi-moi in his hands into my private part! The pain I felt, I cannot explain. He mocked me that I’m dancing, and that by the time he finished with me, he would leave a mark on my body that I will always remember him for.

    “He then forced me to write down my parent’s home address. I didn’t write the correct address. I just wrote down whatever came to my mind. He called one number he saved as Agbara and told him he had a mission for him, ‘I want make this girl fear me, hope I’m covered?’ he said. I was crying and begging. The guy he called asked him to send him the address. When he ended the call, he told Segun to tear the paper. He did and I thanked him.

    “Still not satisfied, he instructed his partner to tie me hands and feet. “Segun dragged the rope so tight that my hands hurt. After a while, he told Segun to release me, that a human being is not meant to be treated like that. Yet, he said he wasn’t through with me.

    “That same night, he asked me and my roommate what we thought of gays and lesbians. I said, “I don’t know, but I guess it’s bad. Then he proceeded to lecture us on it, and forced me to go down on my roommate. I don’t have the words to describe how I felt. We were both crying. He was slapping my head with the cutlass, saying I wasn’t doing it well enough. Meanwhile, my roommate was telling him, ‘She’s doing it, she’s doing it’ but he didn’t listen. He kept hitting me to do it better and was videoing it. “After this, he asked my roommate to convince Segun to sleep with me, if we really wanted to go home the next day. I was in the room later and Segun came in and said, ‘The boss said if I don’t do it, he will not allow you people to go tomorrow.’”

    “Segun slept with me that night!”

    Day five, Saturday, 26th May

    “The next morning, Ola came with ori (shea butter) and abokini balm (mentholated cream). Before Ola saw me, Taylor told him that we’ve gone so that Ola will not arrange 10 guys to gang-rape me. Ola was just nodding in agreement and laughing. He told Ola that he wanted to take me and my roommate to Ado-Ekiti. This information made me really scared, because if no one could find us in Ilesha that is so close to Ife, who would know our whereabouts in Ado-Ekiti, a place I’ve never been before? He said he was not going to force us, that we would talk about it.

    “My roommate and I went into the room to talk about it. She said she’s not sure about this Ado-Ekiti, and I said neither was I, but then, we both knew we had no say in the matter, whether we liked it or not, we would go to Ado-Ekiti if Taylor wanted us to. We went back to the parlour.

    “When we returned to the parlour, Taylor took my roommate to a corner in the room to talk to her. Ola then asked where my parents were. I told him. He asked me where I schooled. I told him. Then, he said, ‘How did you find yourself in Ilesha?’ I told him I didn’t even know. Then he asked, ‘Do you really want to go to Ado-Ekiti?’ I told him I didn’t have any choice. Then he asked one last question before Taylor returned with my roommate, ‘Do you want to leave here?’ I told him yes. Taylor asked what we were talking about and Ola told him nothing.

    “Ola stood up and told Taylor he wanted to go and eat amala somewhere in the area. Taylor told him Segun was cooking, but he insisted that it was amala he wanted to eat and left. Less than 30 minutes after that, the police arrived. We were meant to leave for Ado-Ekiti at 2:00pm, but the police came around past 12noon.”

     

     

    Unveiling the rapist

    A BACKGROUND check on Taylor via his social media accounts revealed a normal everyday person. His posts are not suggestive of the kind of behavior and evil he allegedly perpetrated on poor Cece and her friend, while his photos of studio gadgets and guitar, suggest someone active in the entertainment industry, hence one could hardly blame Cece for falling prey.

    In one of his posts, he wrote: “I got my first guitar when I was fourteen, now I am in my forties, and still wearing jeans. Happy birthday to me jare”

    He further wrote: “”While growing up, I had special meals cooked for me on my birthdays. I was pampered and indulged. On other days, ‘Jay Tees’ (sorry that’s what I call my Father) ever waiting cane was handy when I erred. My mom’s hard scolding was never restrained. But sincerely, those were the ice that smouldered my putrescence. I actually wished then that everyday would be 6th of April. So the indulgence would last forever….”

     

    I’m yet to come out of the trauma – Cece’s dad

    SPEAKING to The Nation, Cece’s dad said, “Thank God I’m gradually coming out of the trauma. I have not been able to tell people the full detail of what transpired, not even my wife because I don’t want them to be stigmatised. It is necessary they are protected. The idiot that abducted them is in custody and has been charged to court.

    Before she went to school, both dad and daughter had agreed that he would send her tuition fees at some point. “On the 21st of May, which was a Monday, she called me to send her a little allowance, so I sent her N5,000. I didn’t call her on Tuesday. When I got the money, I called her on Wednesday, but her phone was switched off. I called the second number, it was switched off. I then called the roommate; her own phone too was switched off.

    “On Thursday when I got an alert, I wanted to send her the school fees, so I called again to alert her that I was sending her tuition fees so that it would not enter late registration. When I called that Thursday, her phone was still switched off, even her roommate’s.”

    Being someone who speaks often with his daughter, he naturally sensed that something was not right. “It was then I became worried that something might be wrong. I kept calling both of them till day break, but it was not going. I couldn’t sleep.”

    Unable to reach her, he checked his phone for numbers of her other friends. After trying several, one belonging to her roommate in 100-level went through. “The girl said she saw my daughter in church on Sunday and on campus on Monday, but hadn’t seen or heard from her since Tuesday. I asked her to help me check on her and let her know that I needed to send her tuition fee. She later told me that she didn’t meet them in the hostel, but that she learnt they hadn’t had light for three days. I believe she said that to assuage my fears about their disappearance.”

    “Eventually, she was able to reach her roommate’s Glo line, but nobody picked; so she sent an SMS. Those guys saw the SMS, switched on my daughter’s phone and asked her to call me. When she called me I was with my doctor, I had gone to see him because of the way I was feeling. The doctor was asking me if I was hypertensive because my blood pressure was high. We were still discussing when her call came in. I couldn’t pick immediately, so I called her back.

    “When we spoke, she spoke in a way to tell me she was in danger, but I was not decoding. She told me her phone was bad and needed to be changed. I told her that I would change it, but that I wanted to send her tuition fee. She began saying that she changed department and the portal had not been opened, I shouldn’t send the money. I insisted that I would send the money anyway. I felt better having heard her voice.

    “I missed her call again on Saturday. When I called back, she told me what she went through. I ran down to Ilesha on Sunday. The police told me that they had taken them to the hospital, but I still brought her home to see my doctor.

    Entreaties

    He also revealed that someone, apparently a family to the perpetrator, has been calling from Germany to beg them not to take the matter far. “The first time he called, I dismissed him because I was very mad. He didn’t call me again until the day we went to court, that’s how I know that he’s being fed with information or he’s working with them. I told him, ‘Young man, I don’t know where you’re calling from. I don’t have any case with your uncle, brother or whatever. He has a case with the government and I’m only just a standing witness. So, stop calling me.”

  • Controversy over nursing mother allegedly brutalised by police

    Controversy over nursing mother allegedly brutalised by police

    There is outrage in Ekiti State following the alleged brutalisation of a nursing mother, Mrs. Toyin Adeyeye, by policemen at a checkpoint over her alleged refusal to offer them bribe. Interest groups and human rights bodies are furious with the police and the demand a high-powered probe into the incident. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

    MRS. Toyin Adeyeye never bargained for what he experienced on Friday, March 17 just ten days after she arrived from the United States of America where she was delivered of her baby.

    After being successfully delivered of the baby, she was looking forward to returning home to nurse the baby and look after the business she left behind for about six months she stayed abroad.

    On that fateful day (March 17), she went to the market with her brother, Adeniyi Dada, on the wheels with the new born baby, Heritage. Little did they know that they would pass the night inside a dingy cell in a police station away from the comfort of their home.

    Capture

    Not only did they sleep in detention on that day, they allegedly received the beatings of their lives from those who are supposed to protect them from criminals and were feasted upon by ‘appreciative’ mosquitoes.

    They were accosted by a team of policemen who mounted a checkpoint in front of Ekiti Parapo Square otherwise known as the Pavilion, and demanded for vehicle documents as well as driver’s licence which were promptly supplied and were found to be valid.

    Interestingly, the incident happened few meters away from the official residence of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdullahi Chafe.

    The police impounded the black Kia Picanto car with registration number LAGOS FKJ 221 EE with which they were coming from the market.

    The woman was breastfeeding her baby last Saturday morning when our reporter visited the police station on a fact-finding mission.

    Capture3

    The woman’s husband, Mr. Akanni Adeyeye, decried the alleged brutality meted out to his wife with lacerations on her body and bruises on the face.

    Adeyeye, who slept in the police station in solidarity with his wife and his baby, explained that the policemen requested for vehicle particulars and driver’s licence of his brother-in-law who drove the car which are still valid.

    He alleged that one of the policemen withheld the documents, demanding that they be “settled,” a euphemism for bribe, which Mrs. Adeyeye and her brother refused on account that the vehicle’s papers were valid.

    Adeyeye added: “My wife and her brother were returning from the market at about 3.00 pm on Friday and on arrival at the checkpoint in front of the Pavilion very close to their station, they (policemen) asked for all vehicle papers and driver’s licence which were produced and they are valid.

    “After checking all the documents, the policemen were demanding for money to be given as ‘settlement’, which my wife and her brother refused. My wife drew their attention to the baby that was crying in the car.

    “Five of them were beating her at the point of arrest and on getting to the station, the beating continued. After thoroughly beating her, they obtained her statement around 10.00 pm. There are wounds on the back of my wife and face to show for it.

    “On getting to the station, they now cooked up a story that my wife slapped one of them and tore his uniform, which is a lie. They are telling this lie to justify their cruelty to my wife, my baby and my brother-in-law.

    “Neither my wife nor her brother slapped any policeman or tore any uniform. The question to be asked is, how would somebody who is not armed, attack an armed policeman in the midst of his colleagues who are equally armed? They are coming up with this falsehood to cover up their brutality.”

    When contacted on phone, the state Police boss, Abdullahi Chafe, insisted that the detainees slapped a policeman on duty and tore his uniform, adding that the matter was still under investigation.

    Chafe said: “Those people slapped my policeman on duty and tore their uniform. Uniform is an authority and what those people did was against the law and it is not good for a civilian to slap a policeman.

    Capture2

    “It is not good for somebody to prevent a law enforcement officer from carrying out his lawful duty. Somebody wearing the uniform? It is not about his age but the authority he carries. I don’t allow my men to do something contrary to the law.

    “I don’t want a woman to be detained with baby or with pregnancy. I don’t want an old woman or a minor to be detained. I have taken note of this and we will take the right action on the matter.”

    There was a massive outrage expressed by Nigerians on the various online editions of the major newspapers and many news portals, as many of them poured invectives on the police for the alleged inhumanity to defenseless citizens.

    This prompted a reaction from the spokesman of the state police command, Alberto Adeyemi, who posted the pictures of the officer allegedly “slapped” by Mrs. Adeyeye. The officer in question had the left side of his head and the neck plastered.

    Adeyemi said in the online statement: “The attention of the Ekiti State Police Command has been drawn to a report on the Internet that a nursing mother was brutalised. We want to put it on record that our personnel stopped a Kia Picanto driven by one Dada Adeniyi and one Toyin.

    “When the patrol team requested for the particulars of the vehicle, they told the team they were in a hurry. When the driver came down to open the booth of car, the woman alighted and threw the particulars at the officer.

    “She then slapped the officer, the driver also used a plank to attack the officer. The DCO of the new Iyin (Road) Police Station was also attacked when he came to rescue the officer.

    “His uniform was torn; the two of them were arrested and brought to the station. They refused to be detained and the policewomen on duty had to use minimum force to compel her to be detained. Later that day, her baby was brought to her. I want to appeal to members of the public to cooperate with the police. The two of them will be charged to court as soon as investigation is completed.”

    The incident attracted the attention of Governor Ayo Fayose, who expressed anger that an harmless woman could be brutalised under his nose just few days after his administration celebrated International Women’s Day with fanfare.

    The governor, who said his administration would not condone violence against women, promised to launch an investigation into the alleged attack on Mrs. Adeyeye and bring all perpetrators to book.

    Fayose, who spoke during his monthly media chat, “Meet Your Governor” for the month of March, vowed that manhandling of women in any guise will no longer be condoned in the state.

    He said no responsible man should beat a woman or manhandle or brutalise her for whatever reason, adding that it was unlawful for any policeman to raise his hand against a woman. The governor explained that he was actually coming from a meeting with the state commissioner of police over the matter.

    Fayose said: “It is highly irresponsible for any man to brutalise a woman for any reason. The law that forbids violence against women is still operative in this state.

    “And I can never allow any form of brutality of women under my watch as governor in Ekiti State. Women are even described as the weaker vessel. As such even if you marry her, does that deny her  rights?

    “It is particularly sad that such a report was coming barely a week after we celebrated International Women’s Day in an unprecedented style in this state. I have already ordered investigation into the matter.

    “Anybody found culpable in the case will face the court of law. I am also using this opportunity to sound a note of warning to policemen who take people’s vehicle particulars, put them under their armpits and demand for bribe. Such cannot be allowed any longer in Ekiti State. We will get to the root of the matter and make justice to prevail.”

    The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Ekiti State has vowed not to allow the matter to be swept under the carpet, describing the alleged beating and detention of the woman and her baby as “wicked, inhuman, barbaric and uncivilised.”

    The association called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to order a high-powered probe into the incident. FIDA also called for the the prosecution of the policemen who participated in the beating of the woman, her brother, Adeniyi Dada. Mrs. Adeyeye, and her baby.

    Leaders of other women groups including National Council of Women, Societies (NCWS), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Women Wing, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Women Wing, Market Women Association, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Nigerian Bar Association and Women in Colleges of Education (WICE) joined in condemning the attack on Mrs. Adeyeye and her detention with her two-month-old baby.

    The women groups who carried placards with various inscriptions threatened to march on the state police command headquarters if the erring officers are not brought to justice to serve as deterrent to others.

    The groups claimed that following the beating received by Mrs. Adeyeye from the policemen, she has been readmitted at a hospital on account of the injury she received at the point of her Caesarian Section (CS).

    They urged the state police command to hand over the policeman, who led other policemen attached to New Iyin Police Station in assaulting Mrs. Adeyeye both at the checkpoint and inside the station.

    Some of their placards read: “CP Ekiti, Investigate This Crime,” “We Say No To Detention of Innocent Baby,” “We Demand Justice for Mrs Adeyeye,” “We Say No To Police Brutality,” “Violence  Against Women is Violence Against All,” “Women Deserve Respect,” among others.

    Anoma, who spoke through FIDA Vice Chairman Mrs. Seyi Ojo, revealed that Mrs. Adeyeye was delivered of her baby through Cesarian Section and the brutality affected her stitched abdomen. According to her, FIDA has commenced the process of filing a fundamental human rights enforcement suit on behalf of Mrs Adeyeye and her baby in the law court.

    She said the women lawyers’ body appreciated the intervention of Governor Ayo Fayose, who ordered a thorough investigation but expressed regrets that the state police command was yet to take any action against the culprits.

    FIDA boss said: “We observe with disdain the efforts police is making in covering up this lawlessness of its officers and the injustice to a law-abiding Ekiti woman and her child. Ekiti women are saying no to all forms of violence against women and children.

    “Governor Fayose has ordered for a thorough investigation; however, the Ekiti State Command has flagrantly disobeyed and disregarded this order. The CP has refused to investigate this matter and that is why we are holding this press briefing to draw the attention of the whole world to this case.

    “After stopping Mrs. Adeyeye and her brother  that day, they tendered all vehicle papers which are still valid and while searching for vehicle’s documents, dollars dropped from the car and the policemen demanded for dollars.”

    The chairman, Human Rights Committee, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ado Ekiti Branch, Vincent Adedara, also called on the Force Headquarters to launch an investigation into the incident because Ekiti command was allegedly shielding the culprits.

    Adedara, who is also the state NBA Vice Chairman, further called on the Police Service Commission (PSC) to discipline Waheed and other policemen who participated in the alleged brutality, while the New Iyin Road Police Station Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) should be queried and disciplined.

    He said: “What justification did the police have to brutalise a woman and how would a harmless woman assault a fully armed policeman? We believe that the CP has not handled the matter professionally.

    “Their action negates international standard of policing because they have gone ahead to plaster the head of a policeman to portray Mrs. Adeyeye as an aggressor and that is why we want the IGP to constitute a high-powered panel to investigate the matter.”

    It is sure that that the controversy over the alleged brutality won’t go away soon as it is generating questions among residents of Ekiti State and other Nigerians.

    “Can an unarmed woman with a baby in her hand slap and attack a policeman among five of his other colleagues at a scene just near their station? Can the slapping cause deep injuries on the face and the neck of the policeman? Will the woman and the ‘injured’ officer be subjected to medical examination to ascertain who was injured among them?

    “If it was true that the woman slapped or tore the uniform as alleged, does that warrant the beating she was subjected to? Was the baby with her at the time of the incident or was he brought to the station as alleged by the police? Where are the dollars allegedly seized from Mrs. Adeyeye?”

    Definitely, the case is heading to the court of law and the judiciary will do well to find answers to these posers to stem the tide of brutality at checkpoints, police stations and other public places in Nigeria.

  • ‘How soldiers brutalised us’

    ‘How soldiers brutalised us’

    SOME men of the Nigerian Army may well need more reorientation on the reality that the country is in a democracy and that brutalisation of civilians is out of fashion.

    This was the submission of Lasisi Sherifdeen and Ayorinde Adewale, two men who were allegedly brutalised on Friday evening by three soldiers close to Total Filling Station, Mushin, Lagos. According to the duo, they were taken to the barracks at the Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Oshodi and forced to pay for repairs of a vehicle they said they were not guilty of damaging.

    Sherifdeen said, “We were in a little traffic along Mushin Road, close to the Total Filling Station and Road Safety office; suddenly their bus was trying to manoeuvre through, creating a third lane in the process on the two-lane road, and brushing our car, a Sienna, as they made to get into our front. But rather than apologise, they came down in a commando-like fashion and started accusing us of brushing and damaging their bus.

    “Surprised, my brother, Ayorinde Adewale, who drove the car, said ‘But you are the ones who brushed our car, this is a democracy, you should be apologising to us.’ This apparently infuriated them and they immediately dealt him blows. They also dealt me blows and tried to force my door on the passenger’s side open. Seeing that the door was locked, they moved over, opened the driver’s door and continued beating, dragging my brother out and stomping on him.”

    Seeing that it was getting out of hand, we started pleading with them to let us go, but rather than soften down, they intensified the beating. I approached the one who looked the most senior and an officer, his name tag read: M. Bukar. He wore a rank with an eagle and a star, I think he’s a colonel; but he ignored me and they continued the beating, tearing my clothes in the process; you can see that I’m virtually in rags. Look at my brother’s face, it is full of bruises. They also bundled my brother into the bus and ordered me to drive along to the barracks. As I made to drive the car, the door of my car, which they had forced open, brushed their bus. This further infuriated them and they intensified the beating. This time, they bundled me into the bus as well, while one of them drove my car. They totally ignored the crowd that had now gathered and was pleading with them to let us go.”

    He added, “Inside their barrack at Oshodi, they ordered us to start rolling on the bare floor, while one of them went to get their panel-beater and painter. Thereafter, we were charged N13,000 for the replacement of one of their bus lights and for the damage on the panel. We told them we didn’t have enough cash but they told us to use our ATM cards or be locked up in the barrack until we could pay. So we went to an ATM at a First Bank branch in the barrack, where we withdrew the money and paid. It was only after that that we were allowed to go.”

    Sherifdeen, who resides in Shasha, Akowonjo said the soldiers conduct was most unbefitting of proper training and sense of responsibility. He wondered why they should be treated like that in their country and hope that the Nigerian Army authorities would look into the matter.

    When The Nation contacted the Army spokesperson attached to the barrack, Lt. Commander Patricia Onyekwere Friday evening, she claimed she was not aware of the incident but promised to get back to our correspondent after due consultation. She was yet to get back as at press time, Saturday evening, and was no longer picking or returning calls to phone.

     

  • Brutalised APC chief returns from medical trip

    Brutalised APC chief returns from medical trip

    The coordinator of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation in Anambra State, Chief Ifeanyichukwu Nwokoye, who was brutalised by men of the Department of State Service (DSS), has returned from his medical trip.

    Nwokoye was assaulted by DSS officials at his May-Roses Hotel on April 27.

    Nwokoye, who returned last week, vowed to seek legal redress.

    His words: “We thank God I’m still alive. I have never experienced such brutality in my life and I will not leave the matter like that; they will face the court.

    “As we are talking now, my sight is yet to clear and my shoulder requires another round of operation in a few weeks. I still have pains all over my body, including my eyes.”

     

  • Woman, 65, ‘brutalised’ by traffic warden

    Woman, 65, ‘brutalised’ by traffic warden

    A 65-year-old woman was yesterday beaten up by a traffic warden at Okesa in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

    It was learnt that the warden accused the woman’s husband of refusing to obey a traffic light.

    Sources said the warden entered their car and ordered them to stop at the junction of the Old Governor’s Office.

    The woman’s husband said: “We were returning from a wedding at Ago-Igbira and we had escaped the traffic light before it turned red. I narrowly escaped hitting a motorcyclist, who oversped and jumped in front of the car while trying to avoid the light.

    “Rather than pursue the motorcyclist, the warden stopped me, opened the car door and came inside. When I asked what my offence was, he said I refused to obey the red light. When we got to this junction, I stopped for him to explain himself better.

    “His allegation was strange to me as I escaped the light. Rather than listen to my explanation, he opened the passenger’s door where my wife was sitting, dragged her out and pushed her into this drain.”

    Corroborating the man’s account, some passers-by said they tried to stop the warden from beating the woman.

    They said “he should have dealt with the husband and not the wife”.

    One of them, who identified himself as Jare, said the warden’s colleagues “smuggled” him out of the area.

    He said: “We attempted to arrest him while some of us tried to revive the old woman, but his colleagues quickly took him away. We urge the police commissioner to stop the impunity of these uniformed officers, especially the so-called traffic wardens.

    “They talk to people old enough to be their grandfathers rudely. This is bad. If the trend is not stopped, one day, something will happen and the people will stage a riot against the conduct of policemen, which is getting out of hands. That day may not be far away.”

  • 50 lawyers represent ‘brutalised’ colleague in N500m suit

    Over 50 lawyers from the Ibadan branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) yesterday represented their colleague, who was allegedly brutalised by policemen, at the State High Court in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Mr. Joshua Olaniyan has sued the police for N500 million damages.

    Olaniyan was allegedly assaulted by policemen at the Kajorepo Police Division in Ibadan on April 3.

    The respondents in the suit are the Inspector-General of Police (IGP); the Commissioner of Police; the Divisional Police Officer; an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mrs. Sola Olarenwaju; Kajorepo Divisional Crime Officer Etim Ebighe and a Corporal, Egunnusi Dominic.

    Olaniyan is seeking a declaration that his alleged detention and brutalisation were illegal.

    The lawyer was allegedly detained and brutalised by Mrs. Olanrewaju and her colleagues when he went to secure the release of a truck that was impounded by the police because the driver could not produce the waybill for his consignment.

    He said he took the waybill to the station and tried to explain to the police that the driver forgot it at home, but he was beaten up and detained. Olaniyan was released in the evening when the DPO intervened.

    At the hearing yesterday, 50 lawyers, led by Abiola Olagunju, made two applications. The first was a “Notice of Application for an Order Enforcing the Fundamental Rights” of the applicant.

    The second was an application to serve the notice on the third and eighth respondents through the office of the second respondent (the Police Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan).

    Justice Muktar Abimbola granted the second application and adjourned hearing of the first application till May 23. The applicant’s suit was filed by the office of R.O. Ogunwole (SAN).

  • ‘Brutalised’ lawyer demands N500m damages from police

    ‘Brutalised’ lawyer demands N500m damages from police

    •Case comes up today

    An Ibadan lawyer, Mr. Joshua Olaniyan, who was allegedly brutalised by some police officers a few weeks ago, has sued the force.

    He is demanding N500 million damages.

    The case comes up today at the State High Court Two.

    The Ibadan branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has directed its members to attend the hearing in solidarity with Olaniyan.

    Olaniyan sued the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Kajorepo Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and Mrs. Sola Olanrewaju, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).

    He was arrested, detained and allegedly brutalised by Mrs. Olanrewaju at the Kajorepo Police Station on April 3, when he went to secure the release of a truck that was impounded by the police.

    The truck was impounded because the driver could not produce the waybill for the consignment being transported.

    Olaniyan took the waybill to the station to secure the truck’s release, but was allegedly picked on by Mrs. Olanrewaju.

    He was allegedly beaten-up and detained. He was also “accused of being a fake lawyer and an accomplice in the stealing of the consignment”. Olaniyan said it took the intervention of the DPO, who arrived later in the evening, before he was released. The lawyer said he ended up in the hospital after he was released.

    He is also seeking a declaration that his alleged brutalisation and detention was “wrong, illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of his rights”.

     

  • Lawyer ‘brutalised’ by police demands justice

    Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Richard Ogunwole and Bandele Aiku, have offered to represent the lawyer that was allegedly brutalised by the police in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, last Wednesday, in court.

    Three lawyers representing the Ibadan chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will join them. They are S. Akinyele, Tunji Ogunrinde and Oluwaseun Abimbola.

    They will represent the victim, Mr. Joshua Olaniyan, in court, when he sues the police.

    Olaniyan, who heads a popular law firm in Ibadan, R. O. Ogunwole Chambers, was allegedly assaulted by the police at the Kajorepo Divisional Police Station.

    Narrating his ordeal to reporters, he said he was beaten, tortured and stripped naked for telling the police that his client forgot his waybill at home and for bringing the document.

    Olaniyan said he went to the police station located on Iwo-Road to secure the release of his client’s vehicle, which was impounded by the police at a road block on the Ojoo Expressway because the driver failed to produce the waybill.

    He said he went there with the manager of the company, who the police allegedly chased away when they started “brutalising” him (Olaniyan).

    The lawyer said: “When we got there, a police officer, an acquaintance of mine, took me to the Station Officer (SO), Etim Ebighe. The SO took me to the office of the OC P and G.

    “When I got there, I met three people, two men and a woman, discussing. One of them, Stephen Owolabi, introduced himself as the OC P and G and I introduced myself as the bakery’s legal adviser and one of its nominal directors.

    “I explained my mission to him. It was while doing this that the lady interjected and started asking me a series of questions sporadically. One of the questions she asked was why the consignment of sugar had no waybill. Even though I did not know she was a police officer at that time, I still took the pains to explain to her civily, as is my nature, that it was an oversight which had been corrected.

    “She shouted me down, saying the trailer that brought the sugar from Lagos should have given the bakery (Fortunate Bread) the waybill it (the trailer) used.

    “I explained to her that Fortunate Bread was not the only customer the trailer supplied sugar to and that the waybill issued in Lagos was meant to cover the itinerary of the trailer. I explained further that what obtained where there was a need to transfer some of the goods supplied in the manner at hand was for Fortunate Bread to issue a waybill to cover the transfer of sugar from Ibadan to Ilorin.

    “At this point, the other gentleman joined the woman in haranguing me. I got confused and did not know who to direct my explanation to, so I asked them pointedly to allow me discuss with the OC D and G, who I believed was in charge of the matter.

    “The gentleman, who I later learnt to be the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), then informed me that the three of them were superintendents of police and could jointly handle the issue.

    “Infuriated by my refusal to buy her argument that there should have been multiple waybills issued from Lagos, the female officer, Sola Olanrewaju, who I later learnt was the Divisional Transport Officer (DTO), told me the police would have to investigate the matter further and ordered me out of the OC P and G’s office.

    “I obliged and left. When I got to the counter/reception area, the manager asked me what transpired and I told him laconically to come with me and that the police wanted to conduct an investigation, which would ultimately lead them to our office.

    “On hearing this, the SO, who was seated in the reception area, stood up angrily and claimed that what I said was extremely rude. Speaking loudly, he said he doubted the veracity of my claim to be a lawyer and that if I was truly one, I must be a useless lawyer.

    “I was about to tell him that I felt highly insulted by his innuendo when I was slapped severally from behind. When I finally succeeded in turning towards the direction of the attack, I discovered that my attacker was the lady who ordered me out of the OC D and G’s office.

    “When she still made attempts to attack me, I raised my hands up to protect my face. This defensive posture of mine incensed the policemen in the reception area and they all descended on me with blows from their fists, feet and cudgels.

    “After some time, I decided to make some phone calls, so that people could know where I was and what was happening to me. The first phone number that came readily to my mind was that of Barrister S. S. Akinyele, whom I spoke with for less than five seconds before a policeman slapped me and asked me what gave me the effrontery to place the call.

    “The policeman seized my phone, checked my contacts and started reading my messages. When I protested that it was an invasion of my privacy, I was hit with a cudgel. At this point, it dawned on me that my life was in danger and I shouted out to the manager, who was standing at the entrance of the police station watching helplessly as I was being mauled, to come to my rescue. My shouts of ‘Ismaila, maa je kan pa mi (Ismaila, do not let them kill me) made the policemen look in his direction and they attempted to seize him, but he ran for his dear life.

    He said: “They took me to a dark, uncompleted section of the station and told me to make a statement. I refused and they started hitting me. In the process, my trousers were removed and my drawers torn. When I saw that my manhood was no longer safe, I agreed to make the statement. While I was doing this, the policemen made jest of me, calling me a fake lawyer and every derogatory word that came to their minds.

    “Some knocked me and others slapped me. Some tugging at my neck tie and others did whatever they felt like to me. I was extremely thirsty and requested for water, but all my entreaties fell on deaf ears. When I got to the part where I had to give my bio data and wrote that I had an LLM (Master of Laws) from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, my interrogator held my hand and ordered me to stop writing ‘rubbish and lies’. According to him, a fake lawyer like me could not have obtained an LLM. He called out to his colleagues to come and see a fake lawyer who has the guts to claim that he has an LLM.

    “He allowed me to continue and when I got to the part where I had to narrate what transpired between the female officer, he slapped me for referring to her as a ‘lady’. According to him, it was rude and unprofessional for me to call a SUPOL a lady. When I explained to him that even female judicial officers were sometimes referred to as ‘My Lady’, he laughed out loud and said I was indeed a fake lawyer.

    “According to him, he frequently went to the court and had never heard any female judicial officer being addressed in such manner. At that point, the psychological and physical trauma I had undergone made me draw a comparison between my travail and that of our Lord Jesus Christ before he was eventually crucified.”

    Olaniyan was released after the intervention of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who arrived around 7pm and some lawyers.

    He said the DPO urged him to accept the apologies of the policemen and woman that brutalised him and lay the matter to rest.

    But Olaniyan said he would seek redress in court. He has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Service Commission. With the support of the NBA, he plans to sue the police.

    Police spokeswoman Mrs. Olabisi Ilobanafor said: “The matter has been resolved. The lawyer was full of praises for the senior police officers, who intervened and resolved the matter. We have our internal cleansing mechanism, through which we resolve cases like this and the matter has since been resolved.”

    Olaniyan said he has no intention of dropping the case.

  • Two Nigerian journalists brutalised by South African police

    Two Nigerian journalists brutalised by South African police

    Two Nigerian journalists covering the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) were kicked, dragged on the ground, threatened with cocked guns and forcibly detained for two hours by officers of the South African police in Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon.

    Debo Oshudun, Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for Central and Southern Africa and John Joshua Akanji, a Deputy Editor of The Sun Newspapers were onboard a taxi on their way to cover the departure of the AFCON winners Super Eagles when shortly after they both alighted, they were surrounded by no less than 20 fully armed South African police officers who threatened to shoot them after they insisted they were Journalists.

    The duo, who narrated their story to SportingLife, were grateful to God for sparing their lives.

    “I thank God we are still alive because we could have been shot, knowing the type of (extra-) judicial killings in South Africa. I have never been in that situation in my life. I was dragged on the floor, kicked and brutalised. I and John Joshua-Akanji were disposed of our phones, my keys and we couldn’t contact anybody. We were detained for two hours and I was really traumatised throughout the time the police dealt with us and still imagining it up till now.

    “The police claimed that they stopped our car because the taxi we were in had a number plate with two different characters. Immediately they stopped us they removed the number plate. They lied that they had been trailing us,” Oshundun told SportingLife in Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon.

    Joshua-Akanji had to miss his South African Airways flight due to the torture he received from the South African Police.

    The Sun Newspaper Deputy Editor also narrated his ordeal to SportingLife in Johannesburg yesterday.

    “I was in a trance. I thought I was acting out a movie. I never thought it was for real. I have never seen a thing like this in all my life. But I am happy to be alive to tell the story”, the visibly shaken journalist disclosed. 20 policemen, who had already cocked their guns and pointed them to my head and my colleague Oshundun’s, were shouting ‘I will shoot you, I will shoot you. Who are you? Do you think you are special? I will blast your brains off’”, Joshua-Akanji revealed.

    Lieutenant Colonel M. F. Tshabalala station commander, Sandringham Command South African Police Service, SAPS, later apologised for the treatment meted out on the Nigeria Journalists.

    It took the intervention of the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg to secure the release of both men. There are no indications yet, if the Journalists will press charges against the South African Police.

    The two journalists however commended Hope, the South African taxi driver for daring his country’s police by rising to the defence of the Nigerians. “These men are responsible journalists that have come here to cover the AFCON. They are like brothers to me. I ate and dinned with them. They have been wonderful to me as a South African. Why are you treating them this way? It’s not fair! it’s not fair!”, Hope is said to have cried out while the policemen were brutalising the West Africans.