Police Debunk Reports Of Suspected Criminal Dying In Custody From Torture

LUCKY LAWAL

The Nigeria Police has debunked the report making the rounds about a 47-year old Olaoluwa Bolarinwa, who was arrested in connection with robbery activities in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, that he was tortured to death by members of the Inspector General of Police ‘Special Tactical Squad’, (IGPSTS) while in their custody at Itele area of Lafenwa, Ogun State.

A lot of controversy surrounding the death of the suspect prompted thorough investigation into the issue. 

One of the family members of Olaoluwa, Adeshina Boyo, had  made a statement earlier to some media houses. According to him, “They called my brother an armed robber even without taking him to Court. Nigerians should stand up and fight for us. My brother’s death is a case of extrajudicial killing. He was murdered! My brother was not a thief and neither was he an armed robber. My brother was a community leader in his community and everyone knew him”.

A sister of the deceased, Funke Owoyemi, spoke with P.M.EXPRESS correspondent. She said, “Actually, when they called me about the issue, I asked about the station he was taken to. But at the first instance nobody knew since he was arrested alongside his nephew, who was later released on bail. We got to know the officers that arrested him; the Police Officer gave his number but always refused to pick his call. I disturbed him and he was adamant. That was when I became suspicious and I went back to Mokola. From there, I proceeded to Obada still nobody knew the officer in question. It was later we discovered my brother was at the IGPSTS at Itele. When my brother got there he was chased out. That was when I dialed the number using truecaller and it brought out the name, Ijoba System. We continued calling the number but he had been denying being the one”.

“When we finally met the Commander, she attended to us well and I asked for my brother Olaoluwa. Instead of bringing my brother, she brought out about four suspects and started interrogating them and asking them to tell us about Olaoluwa’s involvement in the robbery issue. I told her I wanted to see Olaoluwa and she said it was late.”

The Commander said she was sick and hospitalized when she received the news of Olaoluwa’s death at one of the General Hospitals two days after he was taken there. 

When asked if she knows her brother was a robber, Funmi said she was hurt and does not believe her brother was an armed robber because he was a gentleman and a community leader. She does not know how her brother, who was not working, had money to sponsor armed robbery gang as confessed by other robbery suspects.

According to her, it was pure lie and she wondered why the Police had refused to release his corpse to the family for proper burial.

According to the information gathered by P.M.EXPRESS, the deceased was first used as a soft target to arrest other suspects in custody. According to investigation, he was said to have been kept in a special cell, which was an open cell with other suspects due to his health.

When P.M.EXPRESS correspondent met with the Commander IGPSTS, DSP Omosebi, she said she was not in position to talk but referred us to the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba. She said she was not at the office as at the time the suspect died because she was hospitalised but she received the full brief of the matter.

The Commander, who was fair concerning the issue of the deceased said, “The report circulated in the media in respect to the death of Olaoluwa, a suspect in our custody, who was linked to robbery activities and murder, is a false presentation of the true circumstances leading to his death”.

“He was not tortured, he cooperated with the Police and confessed to the crime. Olaoluwa was an ulcer patient, I asked the IPO, Ijaiya, to get drugs from the family members for the suspect when he was sick the first day. Later on, he had an ulcer attack and was rushed to the hospital where he died.” A call was made to the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Frank Mba, to get his reaction to the allegations made by the family of the deceased against his men.In response, he said, “Bolarinwa, fondly called ‘Laolu’ was arrested on March 26th, 2020, in Ekotedo Iya Olobe, Ibadan, along with his nephew, Oreoluwa Abiona, over robbery cases and would have been charged to Court if not for theCOVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world”.

The FPRO further said, “Laolu died in hospital where he was admitted after noticing chronic illness in him, adding that it was confirmed by the doctor the deceased was an ulcer patient”.

“The deceased family has the right to visit the hospital for more confirmation instead of lying that the Police killed their brother and denied them access to the corpse for proper burial. It is surprising that the deceased family is insisting he wasn’t an armed robber after he and other suspects had made confessional statements.”

The officer, who represented the Commander IGPSTS at Itele in Ogun State, DCP Kolo Yusuf said, “The other suspects were available to the press to find out the circumstances surrounding the death of their colleague, as journalists she said, 

“I implore you to deploy your investigative strategies to get the truth from these suspects as we bring them out for you to talk to.”

Speaking to P.M.EXPRESS, the first member of the gang attested to being close to Olaoluwa and his immediate family. A 54-year old man from Ibadan, Oyo State, who claimed to work as a Security Officer at Sunac Company at Mobil, Ring Road, Ibadan, in his confessional statement said, “My name is Benjamin Anjorin, a.k.a Saudi. Laolu is my best friend; we have been friends since 2018. I curse myself if I lie against him. I cannot lie against him now that he is dead. He had already cooperated with the Police before he died. We were both engaged in stealing and robbing”.

“Laolu has always been sickly, he has been nursing a perennial stomach ache, which we suspected to be an ulcer, while we were at the Mokola Police Station, before being transferred here. The wife brought him medications to relieve him of the ailment.”

He continued, “I am very familiar with Olaoluwa’s family; his wife knows me very well and his sister, Omolade, who came here the last time to see the Commander also knows me. There was a day I went to Olaoluwa’s house and met Omolade; I showed her a cut to size barrel gun. When she came around the Station, she also confirmed what I just said in the presence of the Commander and her brother Boye”.

The suspect further confessed to have broken into a boutique at Eko Tedo, Queens Cinema , Mokola in Ibadan and other places.

According to him, “I have robbed a boutique in Mokola. It was Olaoluwa that brought the job and we were four that were involved in the robbery; myself, late Olaoluwa, Sheriff Adebayo, who is here now and Obi. We all slept in his house and left for the operation around 1am in the early hours of the morning. We stole all the clothes in the boutique, Olaoluwa and Obi took the clothes to Dugbe Market and sold them for N80,000 (Eighty Thousand Naira). The three of us were given N10,000 each while Olaoluwa took the largest share as the owner of the job”.

The second suspect, who is also a member of the gang,  gave his name as Tubosun Ojo, a 43-year old from Ondo State. He said, “I was arrested in April for bank robbery. I have participated in robbing three different banks; at Ore, Idonre, Ile-Oluji in Ondo State, I was also involved in the robbery at Oye Ekiti where a Police Officer was killed, though I was not the one that killed the officer; it was one of the members of the gang. We get our information from the indigenes before we operate. I have only robbed three times with Laolu who provided us with the information of soft targets to rob and will sponsor the attack,” Bosun revealed.

When asked about Olaoluwa’s death, Bosun said, “On the day before Laolu’s death, he said he wanted to ease himself and as he got up to go since he was put in an open cell because of his condition, he held his stomach and complained of a serious stomach ache before he fell down on his way to the toilet. One of the suspects called out for his IPO, who responded immediately and rushed him to the hospital where we learnt he gave up the ghost”.

The third suspect, a 46-year old Obi Victor from Delta State also confessed to the crime. He confessed to have followed Olaoluwa to rob the boutique and he brought the job at Eko-Tedo, which was close to his house in Ibadan and slept in his house before and left midnight. 

“I also followed him to steal politicians bags of rice kept in a warehouse in Adamashida in Ibadan. We stole seven bags of rice that belonged to some politicians” he said.

Concerning Olaoluwa’s death, he said, “Olaoluwa was sick right from when we were detained in Ibadan and his wife brought him some drugs when he complained of stomach problem. The IPO was informed and he called his family to bring his drugs. What I do not know is if they brought it but I know he was later taken to the hospital and the next information we heard was that he died while in the hospital”.

The fourth suspect is a 55-year old Sheriff Adebayo, who is a driver by profession, also drives the gang’s vehicle for operations.

The fifth suspect, Monday Okereke, also confessed to have been involved with the deceased.

The IPO of the case, Inspector Oyesanmi, said, “The gang were arrested on Thursday 26th March, 2020, in Ibadan and had made confessional statements before they were brought to our Command on Sunday 29th March as awaiting trial suspects. He fell ill on Tuesday 9th of April, 2020 and was taken to the hospital on Wednesday 10th of April 2020, the following day and he gave up the ghost at the hospital on 11th April”.

One of the reporters put a call across to the family members on the statement of the Police, Mr. Boyo confirmed that there was a time the IPO called his sister to bring his drugs.

“The IPO told my sister that my brother had ulcer and we should bring medicine for him. We didn’t answer because we knew he didn’t have ulcer and we said we want to see him. Where do we take the drug to when we don’t know him or where the suspect is?”

Mrs. Bolarinwa however, confirmed that her husband had been suffering from ulcer for two years.

“We use Mist-mag because the ulcer is not serious, it does not hold him too much, just small and he will take Mist-mag,” she said.