Petitioner explains how SARS operatives shot him, demanded N200,000 for his release

The Abia State Panel on Police Brutality has been told by a petitioner how he was shot by officials of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who still demanded for N200,000 before he could be released.

The 29-year-old Obinna Onuka, on Tuesday, narrated his ordeal before the panel and demanded N100 million compensation.

Onuka said that around 1.39 am on September 14, 2020, he was asleep with his son, his wife, and his mother when he heard a noise at his Amuke Ohafia residence.

The noise, according to him, came closer when some people scaled the fence and broke open the residence of his landlord who lives in Lagos.

According to him, on opening the door, he noticed that the people were SARS men, adding that they shot him in the arm.

The petitioner, who is a commercial motorcycle rider, added that they came to his apartment where the rest of his family were and ordered his mother to stand up.

Read also: ‘Not all SARS operatives are vicious,’ MURIC tells #EndSARS protesters

“When my mother, who is suffering from stroke, told them that she was having a problem with her legs, one of them pushed her from the bed and she fell down. One of the police, a female, took my mother’s phone and N10,000 somebody gave to her.

“They then dragged me to my room where they collected my phone that costs N23,000, as well as N21,000 that I kept in the house”, he said.

Continuing, Onuka said that his maternal uncle, Agwu Okwara, came to the SCID, where the SARS boss allegedly demanded N200,000.

He added that after the payment, the SARS boss gave them police medical authority for treatment, adding that his motorcycle was sold to raise part of the fund for his treatment.

The chairman of the panel, Hon. Justice Sunday Imo (retd.), adjourned the matter till December 8.

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