Metro

‘I was slapped, tortured for demanding to know why I was arrested’

Published

8 years ago

June 13, 2016

'I was slapped, tortured for demanding to know why I was arrested'

Taiwo Rasaq, an undergraduate Mass Communication student of the Lagos State Polytechnic has accused the police of unlawful arrest and torture.

Rasas said he was arrested on the 30th of May at about 9:30pm after he disembarked from a tricycle, and that he was tortured for demanding to know why he was being arrested unlawfully for a crime he didn’t commit.

Rasaq said he was arrested with about 30 others during a raid in the Agric area of Ikorodu, and when he demanded to know why he was arrested he was slapped severally.

Recounting his story, the distraught undergraduate who claimed he had to pay the sum of N30,000 before he was released said; “On May 30, around 9.30pm, I was coming from Egbeda in a tricycle. As I was about alighting at Ori-Okuta, in the Agric area, some policemen from the Owutu division arrested me. They arrested many people including those that went to buy bread and garri for dinner.

“When we got to the station, we met over 30 boys who had also been arrested like us. I demanded to know why I was arrested, but they did not answer. A few minutes after, they told me to remove my clothes and drop my belongings, but I refused.

“I told them I would not undress until I knew why I was arrested. I asked them to allow me make my statements and call my people. Three of them walked up to me and slapped me several times.

“One of them said, ‘You think you know the law, you will sleep in the cell tonight’.

“I kept telling them that I deserved to know my offence and if they couldn’t tell me, then it’s a kidnap. One of them slapped me again, while others manhandled me, so I kept quiet.”

The Mass Communication undergraduate said while the sum of N5,000 and N10,000 was collected for the release of the others arrested on the same night, Rasaq said he had to cough out N30,000 for being ‘inquisitive and stubborn’.

“We were over 70 that they arrested. They didn’t interrogate us or allow us to write any statement. The following morning, the bargain started from N10,000 and they threatened to move us to the Kirikiri Prisons. People begged and they agreed to take N5,000.

“My people begged them as well, they collected N30,000 from me for being stubborn.” Rasaq said.

The raid according to the Officer-in-Charge of the Nigeria Police Complaint Response Unit, CSP Abayomi Shogunle was to rid Ikorodu of cult groups and violent attacks.

“It is a week-long operation and it is in response to recent cult-related attacks in Ikorodu town. Some of the apprehended persons, found not to be linked to the ongoing investigation, have been released after initial screening, while 120 persons of interest arrested at different locations have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.” He said.

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