Save Lagos Group Flays Arbitrary Arrests By Police

A civil rights organisation, the Save Lagos Group (SLG) has accused men of the Lagos Police Command of arbitrary arrests of innocent youths and under aged kids in Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

In a statement issued by the Convener of Save Lagos Group, Comrade Adeniyi A. Sulaiman in Lagos on Monday, the group specifically accused men of the Lagos State Command of the Anti-cult Squad and their counterparts in Imota, Igbogbo and Ikorodu police stations of arresting innocent youths alongside suspected cultists over the weekend.

The group also raised the alarm, saying the police have concluded arrangements to collect the sum of N250,000 from each of the families of the detained before they could secure the release of the children or ward from police custody.

According to sources within the Lagos State Command of the force, the raids in some parts of Ikorodu were preemptive moves to forestall likely breakdown of law and order by members of some secret cult groups who usually celebrated every July 7 in Ikorodu part of the state.

However, the Save Lagos Group in the statement issued to newsmen on Monday flayed the method adopted by the police in their bid to carry out their constitutional functions, saying many innocent youths were illegally arrested in the process.

“We are aware that in Ikorodu, some unscrupulous elements usually carry out acts that are capable of causing breach of peace in Ikorodu town and its environs. The decision of the police to carry out the raid is in order but the methods utilised by personnel of the force left many things to be desired as several youths within the vicinity where the raids took place became victims as they were illegally arrested and detained.” Sulaiman stated.

While faulting the method adopted by police personnel, the civil right activist on behalf of his group stated that many of the youths including the innocent and under aged ones were severely brutalised by the police with many of them sustaining serious injuries that are yet to be attended to since their arrests on Friday.

“The families of those arrested have been coming to us with tales of horror regarding the fate and plights of the children and wards who are still in police custody. We were told that many of them who were merely running errands for their parents were picked up and severely beaten by the police. From the stories told by their parents and guardians, many of them were clobbered with gun and other dangerous weapons.” Sulaiman said.
The group added that since Friday, all of the arrested 195 ‘suspects’ have been moved from one police station to the other, adding that “When we sent our members to the anti-cult squad besides UBA Bank in Charley Boy Bus Stop at Gbadaga, Lagos on Monday, they met a police officer who refused to give his name but his number (07036556045) who said that the suspects are likely to be paraded before newsmen on Monday.”

Sulaiman stated that those arrested are currently being conveyed (as at the time of writing statement) from the anti-cult squadron in a Black Mariah to the police commissioner’s office located at GRA, Ikeja to be paraded before newsmen with arranged weapons that some officers have sourced from nowhere.

The group stated that six of the arrested youths and under-aged are victims of police brutality are not cultists but youths with visible means of livelihood who are engaged in verifiable vocations within the Araromi/Adamo townships.

According to the Save Lagos Group in the statement, the names of the six illegally arrested are Solomon Olasupo (19), Olaoluwa Agboola (19), Toheeb Ariyo (17), Quadri Ibrahim (15), Rotimi Ogunyemi (21) Ezekiel Omotosho (17).
The group added that though about 11 youths were initially arrested along Olorunda Road, Temidire Estate, Adamo/Araromi Town, Ikorodu North LCDA, Lagos but added that “We have since discovered that these boys are indeed innocent. They are just victims of police arbitrariness.
“From our findings, two of them, Olaoluwa Agboola and Quadri Ibrahim are apprentice working for their master, one Olagunju Isa (08028009030 & 07059946062) who is the CEO Awwal Fashion Designing located at Olorunda Road, Araromi/Adamo Town, Ikorodu Road. We discovered that Solomon Olasupo operates a barber shop in the same vicinity.”
Sulaiman added that the others, namely Toheeb Ariyo is a carpenter, Rotimi Ogunyemi is an auto-mechanic and Ezekiel Omotosho is said to be a bricklayer.

The group cautioned the police to always act within its own rules of engagement as well as to be more methodical in their approach to their work, saying it has become a commonplace for personnel to act outside its rules.
“On Friday, September 19, 2014 an international organisation, the Amnesty International accused the military and the police of gross human rights violations. According to the figures released by the group, no fewer than 5, 000 Nigerians are currently being tortured in various detention camps across the country.” He said.

This position was further buttressed by the National Human Rights Commission who on Thursday June 14, 2018 stated that police cells especially those belonging to the Special Anti-robbery squad are over populated with innocent Nigerians who are being kept under inhuman conditions and beyond the constitutionally stipulated period.
“A former Assistant Inspector-General of Police, in charge of Zone 2, Lagos, Mr. Azubuiko Udah had warned officers within his areas of purview to be careful in their engagement with the civil populace. I remember that on Wednesday February 25, a 17 year-old boy, Aliyu Oladeni was detained for over 8 months. Upon his release, men of the police collected N160,000 from his family.” He said.
He concluded that some of the military personnel attached to the anti-cult squad have told family members of those detained to get ready to part with the sum of N250,000 for the release of the innocent and under-aged detainees.
“We are calling for the immediate release of the six illegally arrested youths from detention to their parents/reasonable sureties without further delay or in the alternative, they should be charged to a court of competent jurisdiction within the next 12 hours of the release of this statement as demanded by the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as doing otherwise will cause locomotive civil action against this anti-peoples infraction on the rights of the law abiding residents of Lagos State.” Save Lagos Group in the statement concluded.