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Says suspect’s wife who fears he has been killed by SARS operatives
Till date, she hasn’t set eyes on her husband and her children have been asking questions; questions she lacks answers to. Joy, who looked quite traumatised and haggard when she spoke to Sunday Telegraph, said she has had to discard several SIM cards and even now is scared of picking her calls because policemen keep calling her with concealed numbers.
She said the unknown policemen had been threatening to kill her if she persisted in asking for the whereabouts of her husband, Mr. Bassey Ekpo Ekpeyoung. Although Joy tried to keep tears at bay as she narrated her ordeal and the fruitless search for Bassey, she finally burst into tears, when she wondered aloud how to break the news to Bassey’s parents that their son had gone missing. She wailed: “I’ve not told Bassey’s parents that I can’t find him!
I don’t know what to tell them. People told me that Bassey might have been killed in SARS custody, but I don’t believe that! The police have no right to kill a suspect in their custody! Right now, I’m worried and desperate. These days, I hardly sleep. I think too much. I have no home. I and my children roam about, seeking where to sleep and eat.
“Our landlord kicked us out after SARS men came to our home with Bassey in handcuffs. My children are no longer going to school because I don’t have money to pay their fees. I just want the police to produce my
husband dead or alive! I need to know what has become of him!”Joy, now a shadow of herself, said she stopped going to SARS, to locate her husband after a senior policemen harassed and attempted to intimidate her to have sex with him in exchange for access to Bassey. She explained that when the policeman, who posed as a Good Samaritan, realised she was sincerely shocked at his sexual advances, he had reaffirmed his love, promising to marry her and make her his second wife.
He categorically told her, “Forget your husband! He’s a closed chapter!” The woman, who had been married for over 13 years, with her first child being 13 and the youngest just a year-old, said that the mere suggestion of the affair filled her with revulsion.
She turned down the offer, but persisted in trying to locate her husband. She however finally gave up the efforts and went underground when the threat from mysterious callers became too much. She felt it was sensible to be alive and take care of her four kids. Between February and April, 2015, Bassey, 39, along with Senator Nwobodo Princewill Eze, 55, Amira Abdallahi 32, Daniel Okpara 30, Paul Irior 37 and Royal Nwabuike 32, was arrested by SARS operatives for using Economic and Financial Crimes Commission reflective vests to allegedly rob and dupe unsuspecting Nigerians.
Nwobodo, said to be the ring leader, allegedly has houses spread across the nation, including a hostel in Ambrose Alli University, Edo State. Police said Nwobodo had been arrested several times for robbery, but always seemed to escape conviction whenever he was charged to court. Police said that the gang had used EFCC uniforms, handcuffs and guns to rob bureau de change operators in Abuja and Lagos State of foreign currencies.
Allegedly recovered from them were a Bryco 59 pistol with serial no. 930945, with six rounds of 5.56mm live ammunition, single barrel pistol cut to size with four live cartridges, and three Toyota Highlander jeeps.
They are an ash colour car, marked LSR11DB. The second is maroon colour marked LSR 671DK; and another maroon colour marked KTU 380DK. The police also recovered a Toyota Sienna 2012 model, marked JJJ424CQ;Toyota 4-Runner, marked KRD 449DG; an unregistered Toyota Camry Saloon car; N4m and $13. The police alleged that Bassey was charged by SARS with kidnapping in 2012 and recently arrested for impersonation.
The syndicate was later charged to court and remanded in prison, awaiting trial. But surprisingly, Bassey was not among those charged to court. Joy didn’t know what had become of Bassey, but she said SARS men would know. Joy said that after the gang was remanded in prison, she went there, but Bassey wasn’t among them.
Joy, who said that her husband used to work as a barman in a hotel in Abuja, wept silently: “Is it the right of the police to pass judgment on any suspect they arrest? They called and were threatening that they would detain me. They usually call me with hidden numbers. They said I should stop coming to SARS to ask for my husband.
They are doing this to me and threatening my life because I don’t have anybody.” She recalled that before the matter was charged to court, she had gone to meet a female friend, to assist her, so that she could see her husband. The lady’s father is a retired soldier. The friend’s father directed her to the senior police officer, who was supposed to be her Good Samaritan, but he ended up making her miserable.
She said: “I went to meet my friend, whose father is a retired soldier. The father said he had somebody in SARS who could be of assistance. He invited the policeman. The supol asked the retired soldier how much I had so that I could settle him. I told him that I didn’t have a dime.
To eat during that period was a problem for me and my kids. He said I should go and look for money. He said that I should call my family. I still told him I didn’t have any money. He now said he would try to assist me anyway he could.”
When the police officer realised that Joy truly didn’t have any money to offer, he allegedly decided to get his ‘payment’ in another way. When she poured out her heart to the retired soldier, disclosing the sexual advances of the policeman, the old military man smiled and said: “If you don’t have money to pay, you should pay in kind!” Ironically, the woman still wasn’t allowed to see her husband even while these sexual negotiations were going on.
She narrated: “The officer started demanding sex from me. I complained to my friend. She said there was nothing wrong in having sex with the policeman. She said it didn’t mean anything to have an affair with the man; she said I wasn’t a kid. She said I should just embark on the relationship. I said never!
“I thought the policeman wanted to help me. He assisted me when the police wanted to detain me. He made sure they didn’t detain me. “But then he wanted to sleep with me. He said that he wanted to take me as his second wife. How can he want to take me as a second wife?
He detained my husband, called him a criminal! What is he now? Is he not also a criminal? He wants to sleep with a criminal’s wife! If that was the kind of help the policeman wanted to render to me, I didn’t want it!
Let him go to hell with his help! Let the will of God be done!” Remembering how Bassey was arrested, Joy said: “I was in Lagos, while he was in Abuja. He was working there. I went out one day with the kids.
Somebody called me with a private number that my husband had been arrested. The caller was a woman. She said I shouldn’t go home because the police were looking for me. “They brought Bassey to the house.
He was handcuffed in the hands and legs. My sister was at home. They arrested my sister. I wanted to bail my sister, but I didn’t have money. It was my father that sent N40, 000 from Abuja, with which my church members used in bailing her. She spent two weeks in SARS. She was arrested because they couldn’t get me. “She was sick and bleeding. She was abandoned in a SARS cell. The blood was her menstrual flow.
She wasn’t even allowed to bath. Everywhere was messed up with the blood, but they just left her there! I started roaming the streets, dragging my kids along. I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to be arrested and detained. I was scared.”
Joy said that she was told by everyone that she shouldn’t go home or go to SARS to find out the offence her husband had committed. She was told that SARS men would beat her up. Tired and frustrated of hiding, she said: “I started asking myself why I was hiding, especially since I hadn’t done anything wrong. It was at that point I went to meet my friend, who connected me to her father, a retired soldier.”
Another part of help that the said officer rendered was to go to his superiors, said Joy. She said she didn’t know what they discussed, but he returned and instructed her to bring Bassey’s property.
“They said I should bring the things my husband gave me to keep. But my husband didn’t give me anything. They went to ask him, he told them the same thing. He told them that the last money he gave to me, which was N500, 000, was collected from me by him when he was leaving for Abuja,” said Joy. She continued: “They said I should bring my husband’s car. They said Bassey bought the car with the money he made from the businesses they arrested him for. I handed the car over to them. They took the car and said I should keep the landed property. “They asked me where I was staying; I said I didn’t have a home. I was staying with my friend.
They said I should return home. When I got home, my landlord said I and my kids shouldn’t be allowed to live there anymore. I was evicted.” It was as if the world was crashing down on Joy. She didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. What worried her most was how to ensure that her kids didn’t starve. It was in the midst of all these that the retired soldier called and started demanding N200, 000. He said it was for the police.
Joy said: “He said that I should bring money. He said that the police needed money. I used to sell shoes and handbags, but the SARS men cleared the shop and it was shut down. They also cleared our home. I was left with nothing! I sold our air conditioner and was able to raise N40, 000. I took it to the retired soldier, but he said it was not enough.
He said I should go and raise N200,000. I told him I didn’t have that sort of money.” She continued her narration: “It was at that point that the officer started to disturb me, insisting that he wanted to have sex with me.
He said that I should forget about my husband. He said that my husband was a criminal and they were going to kill every member of the gang. “I told him that I had kids for Bassey. I told him to charge Bassey to court, so that the court could judge his case. I asked him why the police would want to kill the suspects. I asked him if the court had passed judgment on the suspects. The officer said I shouldn’t worry. He said that he loves me and wanted to marry me.
I called my in-law and told him everything. Sometimes he would call me, asking where we should meet.” She said she became further anxious and desperate and started nursing the idea of capitulating to the officer’s sexual pressure. She tabled the idea before her brother-in-law and sister-in-law but they told her not to do it. To stop further pressure from the officer, Joy changed her phone number.
A few weeks later, she decided to go back to SARS with her brother-in-law, Akor Mike. She recollected: “We went to meet the Investigating Police Officer (IPO). We begged him to allow us to see my husband.
At least just to give him food and money, but the IPO refused. We later parted with N30, 000 before Mike was allowed to see him. They didn’t allow me to see him. Mike gave Bassey N10, 000.” Another day, Joy and Mike went back to SARS, hoping to see Bassey, but they were shocked at the reception given to Mike.
Joy said: “They refused Mike to see him. They stripped Mike naked and beat him up mercilessly. They detained him. I called the IPO and asked him what was wrong; he said it was clear I wanted him to arrest me. He said that they were supposed to detain me for at least one month, but that they didn’t. He sounded angry because I was still coming to ask for my husband. “He said I should forget about my husband. I told him I couldn’t possibly forget a man I had children with. How can I forget a man I had been married to for several years? I couldn’t.
He said he would come and arrest and detain me. I changed my phone number again.” She explained that when she heard Senator Nwobodo and others had been charged to court, she was happy, thinking she would finally see Bassey. But her disappointment knew no bound when she realised Bassey was missing from the lot. Remembering that day with tears in her eyes, Joy sniffed: “My husband wasn’t among them. I called the IPO, he said he would arrest me.
Since then, I stopped calling. I even went to prison to check for my husband, but he wasn’t there. All other members of the gang were there, except my Bassey. It hadn’t been easy for me and my kids. My kids have not been going to school. I don’t know what to do!”
Mike revealed that someone in SARS told him that the police had killed Bassey.He then called the IPO and told him that he was ready to pay anything if only the man would allow him to see Bassey again.Mike said: “The first time they allowed me to see him, I wasn’t allowed to ask him for his offence, whether he was guilty or not. They said I should just look at him and be assured that he hadn’t been killed. “I paid N30, 000 just to see him, not to speak with him.
After a while, people told us that Bassey had been killed. I called the IPO and told him that I was ready to pay any amount, just to see Bassey a second time or he should just allow me to speak with Bassey on the telephone. It didn’t happen.We have spent so much on this case, just trying to get to the root of the matter. I know they’ve killed him.” He said, “A policeman has been calling me on phone and threatening me. I got tired and told him that I’m not a baby. I told him that the days of intimidation are gone! I’ve never had a criminal case since I grew up to this age.
The worst the police can do is to arrest me! Joy went to SARS, they didn’t detain her then, now they are calling and threatening me to produce the woman. Am I her husband? They have killed her husband, what do they now want with her? They said she should come with her husband’s landed property documents, so that they could sell it and share the money into three.
One part of the money would be given to her, while the police would take the other part. I told them that I hadn’t seen her. They said they would trace me. I told them they are welcome. “The IPO told me to forget Bassey. I was detained and stripped.
The IPO said he had warned me to stop coming to SARS to ask for Bassey. I told him that I had known Bassey since childhood and I couldn’t just abandon him there. I was detained around 11a.m and released by 6p.m. I was put in a cell with suspected criminals. When they released me, I was warned never to come there again. Since then, I haven’t been there.”
When Sunday Telegraph contacted the spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Joe Offor, on Thursday on the matter, he promised to get back to our correspondent. When he was contacted a second time on Thursday night, he said the office incharge of SARS was not available. He had not reached our correspondent as at press-time
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