‘IGP, who killed my brother?’

• ‘Maggots crawled out from suspects’ injuries’

Nwankwo

Decked out in a black top and trouser, with a low cut hairstyle and tears cascading down her lovely, chubby cheeks, Mrs. Rita Okoro was the epitome of a woman in mourning. She wailed: “I weep every time I recall my family’s experience in the hands of operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command. This is exactly six months that my younger brother was arrested by SARS men. We don’t know whether he’s alive or dead! We just want an opportunity to speak with him. My heart bleeds for this country. I weep for the way cases are handled in this country.”

According to Okoro, since Afam was picked from a hospital in Ikorodu area of Lagos six months ago by SARS officers, she and her family members had not set eyes on him. She recounted that several attempts made to know his whereabouts from SARS operatives was met with cold resistance.
She was finally told a few weeks back that Afam had been transferred to Force Headquarters, Abuja, on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, who allegedly had interest in the case. Okoro and the rest of the family members had also tried to find out the department Afam was transferred to in Abuja, but they couldn’t get any response.
Thus, on June 23, 2015, she stood in the midst of over 30 participants at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, where the National Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN) and Justice for All, programme of the British Department for International Development, (DFID) organised a public presentation of two books; ‘Through The Lens of The Media Vol2’ and revised Lagos State Coroner’s Law (2007). Also at the event was a representative of the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Lagos State, S. A. Quadri and Chairman of the occasion, Barrister Malachy Ugwummadu. There was a dramatic twist in the presentation of the two books, as some victims who had bitter, horrifying and traumatic experiences in the hands of the police, narrated their ordeals. Okoro was among the lot. Before she finished introducing herself, she was already weeping.
She repeatedly fought to control the tears as it choked her, but the floodgate appeared to have burst. By the time she was through with her story, more than half of the participants were crying. She said that since Afam had been transferred to Abuja, she wanted the IGP “to tell us what had happened to our brother. If SARS men have killed him, they should let us know.” The woman said that the worst aspect of Afam’s arrest was that she led the police to him, knowing that he was innocent of any crime they may alleged that he committed.
She never bargained that it would be the last time she would see him. Amid sobs, she said: “He had on a brown Ankara top and trouser on that fateful day. He was in the hospital, about to have a surgery to remove a growth on the back of his head when police picked him up. They didn’t even know him. I was the person that took them to the hospital. When police said he took a policeman’s AK47 rifle, I laughed. I knew it wasn’t possible.
This was why I took them there. Since then, the SARS men had refused to give us any opportunity to speak with him. They had refused to allow us to ask him some questions.”
Okoro said she had heard frightful tales of how suspects get killed in SARS. She said she fears for her brother’s life. The woman was also battling with the crushing weight of guilt as she recalled how she had innocently assisted in her brother’s arrest and eventual detention. She probably wished she had acted differently. Okoro explained that the whole trouble started in January 2015 after she received a mysterious text message from an unknown phone number.
The text message stated that she had a parcel from DHL. According to her, the address in the message was hers, but the name was that of her younger brother. She said: “I knew the DHL parcel wasn’t for me because I wasn’t expecting any. I called my younger brother and he too said he wasn’t expecting any parcel.
The number used in sending the text called me. I gave the person my correct name, but told the caller that I wasn’t expecting any parcel. He said he wanted to see me. I said tomorrow, which was Saturday because I was at the office. But he insisted that he would like to come down to my office, I said no. When I asked the DHL office he was calling from, he cut off. I forgot the matter since the parcel wasn’t mine.” Okoro had almost forgotten the matter until she drove home one night after leaving hospital where she was being treated for hypertension.
She said that as she parked her car, she saw her elder sister. An unknown man was with her. Okoro said it was strange to see her sister quite that late at night. She knew immediately all wasn’t well. Okoro recalled: “I asked what was going on. The man said he was from SARS. He said that my younger brother, Afam was wanted for being in possession of four AK47 rifles, which belonged to the police. When he said it, I laughed. He said I shouldn’t trust anybody.
He said that they were told that I was the only person who could link them to my younger brother’s whereabouts. My brother was at the hospital. When they got to the hospital to pick Afam, they had a squabble with my elder brother ,the doctor.
He too wanted to know why Afam was being arrested.” After some days, the police released her elder sister. The woman then revealed her harrowing experience in SARS to Okoro. “My sister said that the SARS men used their vehicle to double cross her car and stopped her on the road. They repeatedly slapped her because she asked what her offence was when they wanted to arrest her.
They also beat her when she asked to be taken to the nearest police station,” said Okoro. She noted that the most worrisome thing about the whole case aside from the fact that police denied them access to their brother was police inconsistence. She said: “First they said he was arrested for having four AK47 rifles. Then they paraded him before news men and said he was informant to kidnappers. One of the policemen told me that my brother’s case would serve as a lesson, if he comes out of it alive. I don’t know what he meant by that.” In their desperation to see their brother, Okoro and family members sought intervention from pastors, lawyers and finally NOPRIN, a nongovernmental organisation.
Before they went to NOPRIN, however, they had spent a whooping N5 million. NOPRIN had written Arase, demanding that Okoro and her family be allowed to see their brother. They are still waiting for Arase’s response. Another victim whose story struck a chord in the hearts of many was that of Mr. Justin Nwankwo, a PhD student at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
Nwankwo said he was arrested for committing no crime and severally tortured by SARS men attached to Awkuzu, Anambra State. He said the drama started in August 2013. He used to work for a business mogul called Chief Bonaventure Mokwe, a hotelier based in Anambra State. The hotelier was accused of being a ritual killer and murderer. Mokwe was paraded by the police and detained at SARS.
Minutes after his arrest, his Upper Class Hotel was levelled to the grounds. The hotelier believed he was set up. According to NOPRIN, investigation carried out in-mid January 2014 revealed that Mokwe and his workers were framed with the murder of one Nnalue Okafor, 23, whom it was discovered, was already in police custody before the arrest of Mokwe. NOPRIN believed that Okafor was killed in detention. One of the hotel staff arrested along with Mokwe was Nwankwo. He was the Manager of Mokwe’s hotel until his arrest.
Nwankwo gave a detailed description of what he witnessed in SARS. Nwankwo said: “I arrived Awkuzu SARS on August, 1, 2013. On our arrival at SARS, I read the bold inscriptions on the wall of that Nazi camp, which reads: ‘Well come to hell fire.’ I quickly told myself that we were in for the worst. “I was marched straight by the almighty O.C SARS to an open hall. Standing by one end was a police officer with two suspects who were chained together.
Momentarily forgetting my own ordeal, I looked around the hall, which looked like a torture camp. Ropes were streaming down from ceiling tops, bags of sand were elevated on perimeter wall fence of the hall and all types of rod and metal in varying shapes, length and size stare at you. “We heard shouts of people from the back of the hall, screaming in pains.
Buckets of water were at standby in case one faints or opts to die before appending signature to already written statements. I was still taking in the entire facility when I was jolted back to reality by the sound of a rapid military rifle…tem! tem! tem! You no wan talk…you wan follow am go? you wan travel?’ Those were the words from the other end of the hall. I tried looking, but slaps from my Investigating Police Officer (IPO), reminded me that I was not in this camp for an excursion. That guy don travel oooo …so make you tell me the truth otherwise I go travel you,’ were the words from the officer.
“Meanwhile, the O.C torture, the second in command and about four other police officers started asking me questions. The questions ranged from personal to academic.
When I got to the point, where I was explaining that I was a PhD student, the questions suddenly ceased and the O.C shouted. Mister! Tell us what happened or I will shoot your two legs,’ I started my story of what happened, but that was not what they wanted to hear. The questions were already coming and I must be categorical in my answers… Your director kill people? I said no sir! And the torture started. Ropes were tied round my two hands.
My two legs were tied, then both legs and hands bended and tied together with a rod passing through in between them and then elevated to a perimeter wall. In fact, if you’ve watched a goat being prepared for suya, then you are close to getting the picture. At the turn of each question and noncompliance, a bag of sand was added at my back, to add extra pain. I cried until I passed out. A cold bucket of water brought me to reality. From minutes to hours, the torture lasted but never stopped until finally one started confessing lies!
“From hanging on the beam, they took me down and tied a rope in a strangulation mode around my neck, inserting pin inside my penis. I was immersed in pains. I came to know the real essence of that cell days later. Cursed with five cells at that Bay, some are better than others.
Cell five is the worst because it is tagged, ‘Condemned cell.’ If you happened to be there, then you are not in Awkuzu SARS because that cell for them does not exist. I was transferred the following day, while Director (Mokwe) remained there till August 5, 2013. From cell 5, I was moved to Cell 1 and to Cell 4, where I rotted away. I was not allowed to take bath or brush my teeth. I defecated in a nylon bag and only saw ray of sunlight occasionally. The cell was a total black one, filled with the stench of suspected criminals caught with locally made rifles.
“Sleeping was with one eye opened because gunshots filled the air at all times and people are summarily judged through the barrel of a gun. A room of not more than 2 square size, packed full with 29 to 31 suspects. Heat, hunger kills and police bullets do the rest. In the cell, talks of going to court are freedom itself. Every day we waited for our turn, singing to God.”
He said he was stripped naked and not allowed to take his bath for 90 days. He said that some of the suspects in the torture chamber had injuries and maggots crawled out from the wounds. Nwankwo said that due to NOPRIN’s intervention, the matter was charge to court. According to him, it was sheer miracle to come back from Awzuku SARS alive.
Reacting to these narrations, Ugwunmadu said that most Nigerians didn’t know that SARS has a special language. He explained that to the officers working in SARS, to travel means that the suspect had been killed. While noting that Nigerians shouldn’t allow policemen who practice illegality to cow them, the barrister urged everyone to join hands to fight such illegality.
Ugwummadu said that he was ready to join forces with Barrister. Olisa Agbakoba, NOPRIN and other lawyers in making sure the police tell Okoro what had become of her brother, Afam.
The Barrister further said he was also handling a case of a man, who was returning from a hospital where his wife had just put to bed, was when policemen on a raid in that area picked him. Before one could say Jack Robison, the man was killed in police custody. A visibly angry Ugwummadu said: “Every suspect is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.”
Quadri on the other hand, suggested that residents in Lagos, should begin to learn and use the Coroner Law of Lagos to seek for justice. In his words: “You can use the Coroner Law to demand to know ways and manners your beloved ones died.” The National Coordinator of NOPRIN, Okechukwu Nwanguma urged Arase to reorganise police and SARS across the nation.