Confessions
of brutalized Nigerians: How SARS men shot us
John Chikezie
A human rights activist, Mr. Agbodemu
Ishola Musbau, who doubles as a local vigilante, has narrated how he was shot
five times on his chest and leg during invasion of his community by operatives
of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command.
According to Musbau, the SARS men
would have killed him, if not for the charms he had earlier used to fortified
himself. He claimed that the charms made his body impenetrable and bullet
ineffective.
Musbau’s story is not too different
from that of Mr. Adetiba Sunday, a 30-year-old scavenger.
Sunday said that Godwin Ogedengbe,
an officer attached to SARS, Magbon, Abeokuta, shot his right foot during
an arrest.
Sunday and Musbau narrated their
ordeal before the Presidential Investigation
Musbau said: "I’m a
vigilante, a human right activist and businessman. As part of our contribution
to the society as leaders or security personnel, we liase with the government,
particularly the law enforcement agencies, to reduce crime in order to
facilitate the development and growth of our people. I’m also the chairman of
the Community Development Association (CDA) which is registered under Lagos
State Ministry of Rural Development.
"On March 3, 2017, the SARS men
acted more like kidnappers or thugs. They were heavily armed but were not in
uniform.
"They invaded my community
without any proper means of identification and refused to even introduce
themselves to anyone in the community. I was called by some youths that some armed
men in a black Van wagon had invaded our community, Otto Ilogbo Ebute
Meta.
"As a leader of the community
and a vigilante, I approached them to find out who they were, and what their
mission was. But these men jumped down from their wagon and began shooting
sporadically. Although the community is a part of Lagos State, where petty
crimes are often committed here and there, but it was not an excuse for that
type of violent invasion.
"Initially they claimed that
they were hunting drug peddlers, but when they couldn't find any drug peddler,
they began to arrest some of our community members who were just sitting in
front of their compounds. I asked them why they were arresting innocent people;
one of them replied that those people saw them coming and didn’t run. I tried
to challenge them on such an excuse and also prevent them from dragging those
boys into the van. They then shot my leg and chest.
"They shot me about five times,
but it didn't penetrate because I had fortified myself strongly. I had to
fortify myself after experiencing a severe neck, and a gunshot injury on
December 23, 2010 during the time of Bayo Suleiman, who led task force officers
to invade one of the communities in Ebute Meta. They finally succeeded in
taking the boys away on handcuffs and pushed me away, seeing that the bullets
didn't penetrate.
"They handcuffed six of those that
sat outside and dragged them into their van as if they were common criminals. Despite
introducing myself and showing my identity cards, these SARS men ignored
me. It was even when they were about driving out that they now wore a
vest written 'F-SARs'. They detained those youths for over four days
without any petition or allegation against them. They just caged them to suffer
because they were poor and didn’t have anyone to speak for them. It was on
the fourth day that I went to F-SARS Ikeja, after being invited by the Officer
in Charge (OC) of SARS, to sign for their release.
"They released two out of the
six after collecting N150, 000. One paid N50, 000 and the other N100, 000. When
the OC SARs called me to come for the bail of the remaining four, I
didn't know it was a setup. I got to their station only to be thoroughly beaten
up by 11 policemen. They claimed that I was forming hard man by standing up to
them during the arrest. They said that they needed to teach me a lesson.
"After the beating, I was
severely injured and was admitted in the hospital. I am currently still a
patient at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH. I came here with all
the boys that were arrested so they could individually share their experiences.”
Narrating his own story, Sunday said
that he was a panel beater and was at his place of work when Ogedengbe and
some members of his team raided the place and arrested him on June 22,
2012.
The panel, which was saddled with
the responsibility of hearing and investigating the complaints against SARS and
make recommendations to government on how SARS could be reformed, began it's
hearing on the complaints on November 13.
At the Thursday hearing, Sunday said
he was not taken to the hospital after being shot, neither was any of his
family members informed of his whereabouts.
He said: "When I was arrested
at Ogijo, Ogedengbe shot me on my leg out of annoyance and took me to Ogijo
Police Station before I was transferred to Magbon in Abeokuta. When I was
brought to Ogijo Police Station, I met other four suspects there. Ogedengbe
asked them if they knew me. It was only one suspect that said he knew me and
when he asked me if I knew them I said no. Immediately Ogedengbe slapped,
pushed me to the ground and started stomping on my face.”
According to Sunday, after about
five days in Magbon cell, he was brought out to write a statement. “But I
refused because I didn't know the offence I committed. Inspector Ogedengbe told
me to stretch my second leg and threatened to shoot it if I didn’t write my
statement; he later wrote the statement himself.”
Sunday further said: “I was in
detention for about a month before I was taken to court. I was charged with six
other people for conspiracy and cultism. But I never knew who those other
people were before we were all arraigned. Before I was taken to court, my
family members had been looking for me. When they couldn’t find me, they concluded
that I was dead. It was after a month in the cell that the officers took me to
my house for a search that my family members knew I was still alive. We
attended the court proceedings for about eight times until we were all
discharged for lack of diligent prosecution."
Sunday further told the panel that
after he was discharged by the court, Inspector Ogedengbe continued to attack
him with threats of sending him back to prison.
However, Ogedengbe, who was also
called upon to defend himself before the panel, denied all the allegations
while adding that Sunday was someone he had a good relationship with and could
never have shot him.
Ogedengbe said: “My team was sent to
Ogijo due to the land grabber clashes. We arrested one Rafiu, who made a
statement about the members of his gang and the name of Sunday came up. It was
at the police station that one officer said that Sunday was a notorious
cultist, who had different types of weapons. We investigated and after
investigation, we charged him to court for conspiracy and cultism. I have a
good relationship with Sunday; he is a notorious criminal who might have got
his injury from elsewhere.
“I cannot threaten someone that
gives me information. Sunday became my informant after he was discharged by the
court. I've even paid him N10, 000 before for bringing me a job. I even invited
him to my girlfriend's birthday party where he came and served drinks to guests.”
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