CSO asks IGP to probe ‘atrocities’ by Imo police anti-kidnapping unit

The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), a civil society organisation (CSO), has called for a probe into the activities of the anti-kidnapping unit of the Imo police command.

In a statement on Friday, Okechukwu Nwanguma, RULAAC executive director, said the unit has been violating the law.

Citing an instance of two men detained unlawfully, Nwanguma said the men were arrested without being told their crime, adding that they were tortured and not allowed to contact relatives.

He said RULAAC received information about the case, and contacted the anti-kidnapping unit commander, who confirmed the development and reportedly said they were “arrested in error”.

“The anti-kidnapping unit, Imo state police command, is doing every single thing that the disbanded F-SARS was doing that led to the ENDSARS uprising in 2020,” the statement reads.

“Last December (2022), RULAAC received information concerning a case of 2 young men who were arrested one evening and taken to the anti-kidnapping unit at Tiger Base, Owerri and detained without being told what their offenses were.

“Their statements were not obtained until the next day when they were brought out and asked to make statements.

“They stated that they didn’t know what offence they committed that warranted their arrest. They stated that they drove to an ATM stand along Wetheral Road, Owerri, in the evening of the previous day to draw some cash and found themselves rounded up by two armed police officers who were part of a convoy.

“The officers searched them and their vehicles thoroughly and found nothing incriminating and then ordered them into one of their vehicle and drove them to Tiger Base. Other officers drove in their own car.

“After reading their statements, the officer interrogating them asked them to write that they belong to a cult group but they objected and said they don’t belong to any cult group.

“One of the young men told the officer that he’s a fresh graduate of law from Imo State University awaiting law school, and the other, his electrician who came and repaired some electrical fault in his house, and they both drove to the ATM stand for him to withdraw cash to pay him for the work he did for him.

“The officer insisted and used different objects to brutalise them, including using machetes to flog them at their back, inflicting injuries on them, in order to intimidate and compel them to admit to a crime they did not commit.

“Meanwhile, the officers had seized their phones and never allowed them to contact anyone.

“The law graduate said he was lucky to have sighted a former school mate who turned out to be an officer at the station and he beckoned on him and he came, and he told him his story. He then gave him his elder brother’s number and he called and informed his elder brother of his whereabouts and ordeal.

“His elder brother contacted RULAAC and RULAAC called the O/C Anti-Kidnapping, Supol Ola and inquired about the case. Ola said he will check to find out and revert.”

Nwanguma also said the two men were asked to pay the sum of N500,000 for their release.

“When RULAAC spoke with the young men after they were released, they informed us that many people they met in the cell are being held incommunicado without any of their relatives knowing their whereabouts,” he added.

“Some had spent weeks and months with gunshot injuries festering and smelling and in bad state of health. They live in starvation. They are never charged to court.”

The RULAAC director further said Ahmed Barde, the commissioner of police in the state, has not responded to complaints on the activities of the unit.

Nwanguma, therefore, urged the inspector-general of police (IGP) to probe the activities of the unit in order to “urgently end the atrocities going on”.