Iloesie said that the SARS operatives told him that the N50, 000 was for
investigation and recovery of his stolen items. Iloesie further said that he
told the policemen that he didn’t have such an amount of money. He further
alleged and the officer got angry and ordered him to leave the station
immediately.
He said: “They have warned me not to come to their office again, unless
I have the N50, 000 with me. They said if I come without the money, they would
lock me up.”
Iloesie noted that after his graduation from the University in
2016, he started a viewing Centre business where people used to come to watch
live soccer matches.
He said: “When I went for my National Youth Service (NYSC) in 2017, I
closed my business temporarily because I have no one to take charge of
it. Sometime in February in 2018, some unknown bandits broke into my place
where I parked my items in a nearby shop opposite the viewing Centre for safekeeping.
The thieves stole my two Plasma televisions and generator. I immediately
reported the incident at Oko Police Station and also to the local vigilante
group in Oko village. Some days later, one of the members of the vigilante
group called me and said that some suspects had been arrested after they went
for another robbery operation at another location. The suspects were handed
over to SARS operatives at Ekwulobia Division, in Aguata Local Government Area,
Anambra State. I went to the SARS office at Ekwulobia and the police officer in
charge called out the suspects. They admitted that they stole my items and also
gave accurate descriptions of the stolen items which corresponded with the
descriptions I also gave to the police when I reported the incident.”
According to Iloesie, he returned some days later and the officer warned
him to stop disturbing them since he couldn’t provide the money they demanded.
He further added: “One of the policemen then said that from their
investigations, the suspects had already sold the items to a buyer and that the
buyer was on the run. He said that the earlier I provided the money, the
quicker they would devise means of arresting the buyer and recovering the
items. After some days, the head of the local vigilante called me that they had
recovered one of the stolen plasma televisions and taken it to the SARS
operatives. While I was still contemplating how to go about this matter, since
I didn’t have N50, 000 to give to the SARS men, the parents of the person who
purchased the stolen items and who had been on the run visited me. They told me
that they wanted to settle the issue once and for all. They asked me to give
them a list and price of all the stolen items so that they could either give me
the cash equivalent or purchase new ones to replace the stolen ones. I gave
them the list and prices. The items are Plasma TV and a generator, but the TV
had already been recovered by the vigilante group.”
Reacting to the issue, the National Coordinator of Network on Police
Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, appealed to the Anambra
State Commissioner of Police, Mr Garba Umar, to intervene and prevail on the SARS
operatives to release Iloesie’s recovered items, so that he could go back to
his business.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Haruna Muhammed, said
that the command headquarter was not aware of the case. Muhammed
requested that the victim should visit him, so that they could resolve the
issue.
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