Paul Orude Bauchi
Bereaved mother of one of two suspected chicken thieves allegedly beaten to death by a top police officer in Bauchi State, has described the day police brought his corpse as the saddest day of her life.
Hajara Ismail, who spoke of her grief at the NUJ Secretariat, on Tuesday, narrated how her son, Ibrahim Kampanlala, was brought home dead in a police Hilux.
“The Policeman, who brought my dead son, took him from the car and dumped him on the ground. He fell on his and that time, unknown to us, he had already died,” she said.
“I don’t know what my son did to the police. When police came, they entered our house and asked some boys to carry him and they asked them to dump him for me inside the house.
“Then, the DPO (names withheld) said, “here’s the corpse of your son, he’s a robber, we arrested him,” then he turned and left and he turned again and said “we were not the people who did this to him, we too picked him like that and we brought him to you.” Then, we picked him and put him inside the room and he never moved, he had died”
The bereaved mother said her son’s father was not at home at the time they brought Ibrahim’s corpse.
One of the three suspects who survived the alleged torture, Abdulwahab Bello, gave a blow to blow account of how the DPO alleged tied them to a tree and used piston to hit their knees, legs and heads, which resulted to the death of Ibrahim kampalala and Ibrahim Babangida.
Hajara revealed that the DPO, who is being accused of torturing the two suspects to death, “brought my son with six other uniformed policemen in the Hilux but he wasn’t on uniform”
“His father was sick and went to and I called him. I told him to come home quickly and go inside and see Ibrahim, he is dead. He then asked me what had happened and I told him all that happened and what I heard. I told him that some Policemen brought him and dumped him in the house but I don’t know what he did to them. I told him that they just came and dumped him and most of us in the house at the time were women and when people saw them on their uniforms, people were just running away”
Efforts to meet the deceased father failed at the time of this report but Hajara pleaded with those in authority to ensure that justice is served.
“He was 30 years old. He wasn’t married yet. Anytime I talked about marriage with him, he’d tell me that he won’t get married now until he helps us and get our own personal house,” she said as she broke down.
Speaking on the issue, the Police Public Relations Officer of the state command DSP Ahmed Wakil, in interactive session with journalist at the NUJ Secretariat on Wednesday, disclosed that the Commissioner of police has ordered for full investigation of the incidence