…man narrates ordeal
Pascal Oparada
A man, who identified himself as David Okwulili had narrated how members of the Nigerian Police, the Anti-Cultism Unit in Gbagada, Lagos arrested and extorted him and hundreds of others of huge sums of money.
David, in a Twitter thread, said, he was picked up by the police on his way from a barbing salon and forced into the police bus and taken to their station in Gbagada.
“I left my house around past 6pm yesterday to get plastic buckets with a friend because he just moved into a new apartment around Gbagada. On returning, I branched into a saloon to have my hair cut which was around past 7pm. I was done with my hair by quarter to 8 pm then paid and left, I got across the road to take Napep from the salon to where I stay. The next thing, I saw four men in black, boldly written on their shirt “Anti Cultism Unit” with guns. Then one of them grabbed me from the waist, while he said I should get into the bus, I asked why?
Okwulili said the police drove him around, picking others along the way on spurious charges. According to him, some people were picked up even in front of their houses and those who resisted, were tear-gassed and tortured.
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He said, when they got to the station, he met scores of other ‘suspects’ who have been similarly arrested.
“We got to the station (Anti Ciltism Unit, Gbagada Charlie Boy) around quarter to 10 pm. We came down from the bus with our hands up, which I so felt humiliated and portrayed as a criminal. They removed our slippers and shoes, took us inside, while they wrote down our names, and went out for a second parade.
“I saw a lot of people, both female and male, in which more were still being brought in by different units. I overheard some saying they picked them from Ikorodu, OniPanu, Mushin, Oshodi…, ” he said.
He said he was detained with over 200 other people in a dingy, smelly cell which overflowed with urine and faeces.
After hours, they were taken to the back of the station and made to write statements while sitting on the ground.
He was later released after he parted with N10,000.
According to him, he counted over 200 people in the police station, all of whom got bailed with N10,000 each.
A Premium Times undercover investigation in March this year had unearthed high level corruption at the same Unit of the Nigerian Police in Lagos.
The report said detainees were made to part with huge sums of money as much as N70,000 per person in order to regain their freedom.
The year-long investigation uncovered the corrupt practices of the men of the anti-cultism unit of the police and said those who refused to play ball were detained for an unspecified number of days contrary to the law and later charged with Phantom offences.
The two-part report says the Unit hardly carries out detailed investigation and would pick up suspects at the whim of the patrol team and later make them cough out large sums of money in exchange for their freedom.
The report identified police officers notorious for acts of fake arrests and execution.
Sahara Reporters story said, following the investigation, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, suspended the operation of the Lagos State Anti-Cultism Unit “until further notice”. But in a twist of fate, the unit has been allowed to continue operations in the same brazen manner.
