Desperate, she turned to the General Overseer of her church, Prophet David Babalola. Babalola is the GO of His Presence Redemption Ministry, Ogba, |Lagos. After listening to her, Babalola promised to make sure Afam was granted bail.
Ngozi had also run to the national coordinator of the Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria and human rights activist, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, when she felt Babalola was not achieving the miracle she so desperately wanted. According to Nwanguma, by the time he stepped into the matter, the cleric had allegedly collected a whooping sum of N5m from Ngozi and her family, with the promise that he would get her brother freed from SARS. Nwanguma said he was worried about the connection of a GO with operatives of SARS.
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| Babalola |
He also wondered what had become of the millions. But in a swift response, Babalola said he only collected money from Ngozi and her family to assist them to go to Force Headquarters, FCT, Abuja, to meet a senior policeman who might be able to help in securing Afam’s bail. While not admitting that he collected N5m, he said that he used the money collected from the family in travelling to and from Abuja, trying to unknot the knots of the case.
Thinking Ngozi might have fallen into the hands of suspected fraudsters, Nwanguma petitioned the Acting Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to prompt an investigation into the case and ascertain the role of Apostle Babalola, especially his involvement in brokering this curious meeting between the “police team from Abuja and the detainee’s family.”
Narrating the genesis of the troubles that led Afam to SARS and Ngozi seeking his bail, Nwanguma said that Afam, who was arrested in Lagos on January 17, 2015 by SARS, Ikeja, Lagos, had been detained incommunicado since then. The human rights fighter alleged that SARS operatives had denied the suspect’s family members and legal representative access to him. Nwanguma said: “Afam’s family informed NOPRIN that the SARS operatives first trailed, double-crossed and arrested his two elder sisters, assaulted them for no just cause, seized their phones, forced them into their vehicle and asked them to lead them to where their brother was.
The two women took the police officers to a hospital in Ikorodu, Lagos where their brother had gone for a surgery the previous day. One of the police officers, Abdurrahman, later told the women that their brother was wanted for being in possession of four AK47 rifles belonging to the police. The two women found this claim incredible because their brother had been very close to them and had never, to their knowledge, been involved in such a heinous act.” He noted that the suspect’s family members were further shocked after they saw Afam in some national dailies. He was alleged in the papers to have been an informant to a kidnap gang which allegedly seized two prominent oil dealers in Lagos.
“Afam’s family members have not been allowed, despite several efforts, to see him, ask him some questions and hear his response to the allegation levelled against him. They said they seriously doubted the allegation by the police because they were not aware of their brother’s involvement in any criminal act, let alone one involving the use of firearms.
More than three months after the arrest of Afam, it’s disturbing that the police have continued to unlawfully detain him incommunicado. The Investigating Police Officer also told us that the matter had been transferred to Abuja,” said Nwanguma. In further efforts to ascertain from sources at the Force Headquarters, Abuja if and where in ‘Abuja’ the case might have been ‘transferred to’ as claimed by SARS Ikeja, NOPRIN called the Principal Staff Officer to the IGP, Mr. Austin Ewa (CP), narrated the incident to him and requested him to assist with inquiry to locate where the case/suspect might be in Abuja, which he promised to do. Subsequent efforts to reach the PSO for feedback had not yielded any success. Nwanguman said that curiously, on May 3, 2015, Babalola called Ngozi, who worships in his church and informed her that some police officers from Abuja had come to Lagos to pick up a file relating to the case from SARS Ikeja.
Nwanguman recalled: “The man of God told her that the officers would like to meet with any member of their family. Ngozi went to see the man of God in his church and he gave her one of his workers who took her to a hotel in Ikeja where she met a man who claimed to be police officer Patrick. The policeman claimed to be a member of a team from Abuja.
“The policeman asked Ngozi to write a statement, stating that her brother, Afam, was arrested in a beer parlour with members of his gang and that she should not mention that her family had given any money to Prophet Babalola to assist them in ‘settling’ Abuja and securing her brother’s release. She said she could not write such a statement, changing the facts of her brother’s case.”
The activist urged the IGP to grant the family of the suspect, immediate access to him or disclose to them his whereabouts if he was no longer in the custody of SARS. He also wanted Arase to constitute a team that would begin impartial investigation into Afam’s case, to ascertain the true identity of the ‘police officers’ who claimed to have come from Abuja and who wanted Afam’s sister to make false statements rewriting the facts of the case.
“The police team should also ascertained why the police officers chose to meet the detainee’s family in a hotel rather than at the police station. Ascertain the information received from the family that Prophet Babalola had so far, deceitfully and fraudulently obtained from them the sum of over N5m, ostensibly to assist them to ‘settle some top management police officers in Abuja’ and secure the release of the suspect. We’ll also want the IGP’s investigating team to ascertain why the police officers chose to meet the detainee’s family in a hotel rather than at the police station.” Ngozi explained that the entire family was thrown into confusion when they heard that Afam was involved in a kidnap case.
She said: “While Afam was in hospital at Ikorodu, receiving treatment, Police said he was with four AK-47 rifles, belonging to the police. He was also said to be involved in a kidnap case in Lagos. Later, the police from SARS said that Afam was informant to the kidnap gang that kidnapped two oil dealers, Mr. Ademola owner of Dapsy Oil and Alhaji Fashola, owner of Kings Oil.” According to her, she and her family approached Babalola for help in facilitating the bail of Afam. “The prophet told us that he had some contacts at the Force Headquarters in Abuja. He said he would use those contacts to seek our brother’s bail,” narrated Ngozi. “He offered to help us to transfer the case from SARS, so that it would become a federal case. He said it would easier to release my brother from Abuja.”
Ngozi continued: “The prophet is not the main issue. The issue is we want to know where our brother is! We have not set our eyes on him since his arrest over two months now.” Ngozi admitted that a police officer allegedly from an Abuja team sought for her to make fresh statement. She explained that she refused since she didn’t know the identity of the supposed policeman.
The invitation to meet in a hotel further made her suspicious. She continued: “How could I make a statement to someone who just claimed to be a policeman? As a learned person, I know statements are made at police stations, not at hotel premises!” Stating his own side of the story, Babalola said: “Initially, I didn’t want to get involved in the case, but the fact that the suspect’s sister was a member of my church and actually brought the matter to me, made me to get involve. It was in January that the family met and told me about the case. I told them what we could do to know the demand of the case, which primarily include going to Abuja to see the then Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Suleiman Abba.
I did that. Along the line, the IGP was removed. “But at the Force Headquarters, a detective called Joseph was asked to write a petition on the matter, which he did. But election delayed them from further investigations. The last time I went to Abuja Force Headquarters, they said they would come to Lagos when the IGP approves. Finally, the IGP approved their trip and they came to Lagos, seeking to see a member of the suspect’s family. “The policemen said they needed a statement direct from a family member. I encouraged Ngozi to go and represent her family. But she was so afraid and refused making a statement. She said her uncle had intervened in the matter.
This made me think that with all my effort, they were having second thoughts. They brought some money to facilitate the process.” He said that prior to this drama; the family was confused whether the case was still at SARS or Abuja.The GO said that recently, he went to SARS to discover another petition in Afam’s case file. “Those that arrested Afam were directed to come to Abuja on Friday. They also invited me, but I will be in Abuja earlier because of other things I want to do there.”
NEW TELEGRAPH
http://newtelegraphonline.com/go-explains-n5m-bail-for-missing-detainee/
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