A 49 years old man Afuwape Sunday has called on the commissioner of police in Lagos state to take investigate officers of the Shagamu Road police station at Ikorodu.
Mr. Sunday said this was necessary following the abuse of power and constant intimidation and harassment residents of Ikorodu face in the hands of the officers.
Specifically he mentioned his ordeal in the hands of two officers of the station simply identified as inspector Ojo and officer Makia who he alleged brutalized him and illegally detained him in their station on December 1st.
“on December 1st 2010 ,my younger brother’s tenant one Ahmed who my brother evicted from a one room apartment told us to go with him to his brother’s place where he will be keeping his belongings because he wanted us to believe that he was truly leaving the house for good. We followed him and he led my brother and I to the Shagamu Road police station at Ikorodu, we followed him because we thought his brother is a police officer.
But we were surprised when we entered the station we saw two officers , one inspector ojo and officer Makia and they started scolding us. I identified myself as an assistant senior Man “O”war (ASM) Commander serving with the Ikorodu west local council development area and my brother an ICPC officer but the two officers started maltreating us, they slapped me collected my walkie talkie and dragged me to their counter, where they used a big stick to head my head which caused bleeding and swelling., they also destroyed my wrist watch.” Mr. Sunday said
Mr. Sunday added that he was locked up in the cell “I was locked up in the cell on the order of inspector ojo from 10.00am to 2.30pm with all sorts of beating, when they later brought me out , the officers forced me to write a statement but I refused and this made them to gave me another series of beating”.
Mr. Sunday petitioned the office of the Public Defender (OPD) in the state and on December 15th, a hearing on the issue was set up at Ikorodu office of the OPD and the two indicted officers, inspector Ojo and officer Makia were invited but they did not show up.
A lawyer attached to the case who requested anonymity said “we wrote a letter to the police to release the officers for the hearing but they did not show up claiming that they were not released to come for the hearing. We later approached the commissioner of police, and he has been very helpful and he minutes a letter to the police Anti-vice unit to investigate the matter.”
When contacted, the spokes person for the Lagos state police command said
“If you look at the letter from the OPD, you will find out that it is full of a lot of aberration and inconsistencies. The letter was defective in the sense that it was addressed to the Divisional police officer and the commissioner was copied but this is not the proper channel because the DPO cannot authorize officers to attend a hearing.
Also the police have its internal mechanism of investigating officers and we are a federal government agency and the OPD is a state agency and we are not in conflict with each other. If the lawyer said the Commissioner of Police has ordered that the Anti-vice unit which is also the X quad unit is investigating the case then it will amount to unnecessary duplication of efforts so if the lawyer said the Commissioner of Police has ordered the investigation, then there should be no problem”Mr. Mba said.
When contacted if the OPD will go on with its hearing on the case, the lawyer refused to make comments on further hearing on the case
“This whole issue has gotten to my superiors in the office and I cannot comment on it again without their authorization, so please I cannot say anything on this
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