Some officers attached to the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) of the Nigerian Police yesterday took their audacity for robbing innocent Nigerians to an unimaginable level.
Led by Inspector Jude Akhoyemta from FSARS Ikeja, the officers seized the handset of Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu, the Managing Director of Planex Finishing Nigeria Limited, for report them to the Lagos State Command Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chike Oti, a Superintendent of Police (SP).
Oti had requested to speak with them before the FSARS seized Ibe-Anyanwu’s handset.
The officers stopped Ibe-Anyanwu at about 3pm for search in Ago Palace, opposite Zenith Bank, Okota, Lagos.
Having found nothing incriminating, the officers allegedly humiliated Ibe-Anyanwu and accused him being a fraudster.
The officers told him to lead them to his Ikoyi office to confirm.
It was at that time that people intervened and Ibe-Anyanwu called the police spokesman.
Ibe-Anyanwu wrote on his Facebook wall: “I was accosted by SARS officers at Ago-Palace, Okota, opposite Zenith Bank. They humiliated me and accused me of being a fraudster.
“Checked my documents and found nothing, and then said I should follow them back to my office in Ikoyi to confirm my claims. People intervened. I called the PPRO of Lagos State and he asked to speak with them. They took the phone and seized it.
“They are still holding my documents. Later one called me aside and asked me to go arrange money. I asked for my phone to let me make a transfer to my ATM (Automated Teller Machine) account and he gave me. I took the phone and card and went into the bank and have gone into hiding here. I’m updating from my hiding place. They are waiting for me by my car. Please share.”
In a chat with The Nation last night, Ibe-Anyanwu said: “It was past 2pm yesterday and I was at Zenith Bank, Okota Branch to submit a document prepared on my company letterhead. I was asked to edit a part of it and re-submit.
“Because I wanted to conclude the transaction yesterday, I had to look for a business centre around to type and edit. Across the bank was one and, as I walked towards it, a young man accosted me saying he was a police officer, His superiors would like to see me inside a bus waiting around, he said.
He was slightly bearded and in mufti, so I was skeptical. I asked for his ID (Identity) card and he unhooked it from his waist and showed me. The prints were tiny and blurred, so I reached out to collect it and read properly. ‘So you want to snatch my ID card,’ he shouted.
“He took from me the PLANEX-branded envelope containing plain letterheads and other documents, and walked towards the bus, asking me to come along. Right away, I made a call to Ekene Okoro and briefed him. By the time I got to the bus, the story had changed: that I snatched his ID card from him. They were about seven armed men, and one of them started interrogating me. Why did I choose to use this branch of Zenith Bank instead of the one close to my office in Ikoyi? Where is the other director of PLANEX? Why was the document I went to edit not stamped with my company stamp?
“Dismissing all my answers, he said they would take me to my office in Ikoyi to confirm. He said he knew people on that street and had just spoken to them and they couldn’t identify me. I asked him to speak to my office landlady, he ignored me.
At that point, I stepped aside and called the Lagos PPRO and narrated my experience. He asked me to pass the phone on to them and they took the phone from me, cut the call, and seized the phone. At that point I started inviting passers-by into the argument and people gathered.
“One of them intervened and begged them a lot and they calmed down, insisting that they were still going to take me away anyway. Then they asked to search my car and I let them. Finding nothing, they took my ID and demanded my car key and car documents. I had to corner their leader to a side and beg him, telling him he was like a father to me and should appeal to his men. His men were almost going violent with me but he kept calming them down.
“He told me to arrange some money and I told him I needed the phone to transfer money from the corporate account to my ATM account. I needed the car key too to get the ATM card. On my way to the ATM, the one who arrested me asked me how much I was going to withdraw. I told him N5, 000 and he flared up.
“At the ATM booth, I called back the PPRO. “Don’t give them any money”, he warned, promising to send down a band of policemen. I withdrew some money and ran into the banking hall instead, went straight to the bank toilet and hid. Then, made an update on Facebook. I sat there in the toilet for close to two hours. By after 4pm, I feared the bank would soon close and called the PPRO again, who assured me his men were on the way. He asked me to put the CSO of the Branch on the line for him. They spoke and he asked the CSO to put the bank mobile police unit on the line too for him to instruct them on what to do. But before the bank policeman could come on phone, the phone had died.
“I narrated everything to him, the bank policeman. But he was skeptical, saying if I did nothing, SARS would not be after me. I learnt from the CSO that the SARS people actually came inside the bank to look for me while I was in the toilet, purporting to want to give me back my documents. The bank policeman now said I should leave the bank, that the bank was not the place for people to hide. So he eased me out of the bank and, outside where my car was parked, I noticed the number plates had been taken away. The police bus was no longer around. So, I assumed they had left.
“I got into my car, plugged my phone because I was desperate to reach people. As soon as I started the car, the SARS bus came from nowhere and double-crossed me. I turned swiftly facing the bank gate, hooting crazily for the bank security to let me in. The bank security, on the order of their skeptical policeman, refused me entry, leaving me out for SARS to devour. It is a branch I have used to for 10 years, visiting there almost weekly.
The SARS people jumped out of their bus and started banging on my windows. One attempted to puncture the tyre but that superior asked him not to. My phone was still yet to come on, heightening my fear. It was the longest moment of my life, as I was surrounded by seven armed policemen who had patiently waited for me for over two hours.
“They ordered me to wind down but I wouldn’t and a crowd began to form. They stepped aside, speaking to the bank policeman. The bank policeman later came to me and asked me to wind down, that he had spoken to them, and that I should leave even outside the bank premises where this was happening.
“The management had asked him to chase me away, he said, adding that the bank was not the place for me. Shouting through shut windows, I pleaded with him to let my phone come on so help could reach me. He threatened to use force on me if I didn’t leave that very minute. I hunched over my steering and said a short prayer.
“They (SARS) came back to me again, asking me to wind down, and I pretended to be making a phone call. One was impatient and wanted to smash the glass. Their superior who had been soft all along got angry and dumped the number plates and documents on my bonnet and stormed out. The others followed him, entered their bus, and they drove ahead and waited.
“I was scared that they were still waiting along the same road I was to take, so I remained in the car. The bank policeman came back again, fuming, banging on the car and urging me to leave. I had to take the opposite direction amid a slow-moving traffic, driving insanely cutting through the traffic until I found a free road which was in the opposite direction to my house. I fled, literally.
“At that point my phone had come on. The PPRO and his deputy called respectively. They had been trying to reach me. Their men who were on the way also called me saying they had been unable to reach me since. For the next hour, they kept calling checking up on me. Even the Lagos SARS commandant called, apologetic. They all rose to the challenge and began to look for the erring officers. The response on social media had been overwhelming, from colleagues, friends and family. I was in shock, I have read stories of SARS tracing people home in the night and killing them and I still fear for my life.”
Police spokesman said a team of policemen from the Command X-Squad Section, led by Musa Shuaibu, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP) was dispatched to intervene in the matter.
Oti said: “However, on sighting the X-Squad personnel, the erring officers hurriedly left the scene in a manner suggestive that they were on illegal duty.
“The Commissioner of Police directed the officer in charge of the X-Squad Section to fish out the policemen within two hours and that directive has been actualised with the identification of the policemen involved. They were led in that inglorious duty by one Inspector Jude Akhoyemta attached to FSARS Ikeja.
“The general public is hereby informed that the CP has ordered for their arrest and as soon as that is done, the public would be communicated as usual.”
