Romanus Okoye
A Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) brutality victim, Okoli Agwu Abunike, yesterday accused police lawyer of slapping him four times when he went to serve court documents at Panti Police Station, and threatened to file separate petition against the lawyer at the panel.
Okoli said that he was surprised that a lawyer, who had such issue with him, had the temerity to appear before the panel. He raised the allegations when he was being cross-examined in a petition he filed at Lagos State Judicial panel, alleging that he was tortured for 48 days by the SARS.
Narrating his ordeal, Agwu, who resides in Okokomaiko area of Lagos, said he was abused and roughly treated by SARS operatives. He said his two teeth were extracted by the disbanded police unit.
His words: “I worked for a company for four and a half years as a manager. After my resignation, my boss invited me for the authentication of my resignation. When I got there, my boss had me arrested by police officers from Ojo Police Station.
“I was later taken to Ikeja police command where I was manhandled and brutalized by Inspector Sunday, popularly known as Baba Ijapa and ASP Haruna. I was labeled a fraudster and was beaten, severely injured, dehumanized and dragged all around Alaba International Market. I was also taken to my church and disgraced before the congregation for an offence I knew nothing about.
“On the instruction of my boss, I was detained for 48 days and a bucket filled with cement was strapped at my back. I had bruises all over my body and two of my teeth were removed. The officers beat my wife and mother and they threatened to kill me if I did not confess to embezzling my company’s fund.
“They took all my property. They seized my house and sold my car to make up for the money they said I had embezzled. My boss also threatened to kill me if I did not pay back all the money I stole.
“The case was taken before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court and he awarded a damage of N10 million against the police. But between 2016 and 2020, I have not seen anything. They have not complied with the judgment.
“They sold my land and car. In fact, the person the land was sold to dragged me before a magistrates’ court in Badagry and the magistrate remanded me in Kpotopiri prison for three days for my inability to meet up with N50,000 fine. I want to appeal to this honourable panel to compel the police to honour the judgment of the court and return all my property or pay the damage because I have lost everything that I now live in running errands for people to feed my family.”
Earlier, Okoli obtained two separate N10 million court judgments against the police but said the police had not obeyed the court judgments.