Police forced me to write statement at gunpoint – Graduate
Olaleye Aluko
A 30-year-old graduate, Daniel Yosua,
who was arrested by the police in Lagos, says he was forced to write a
statement at gunpoint at a police station after he had gone to report a
street fight in his area.
Yosua, an indigene of Okpara, Delta
State, said he was arrested and detained at the Mile 12 Police Post
after he had gone to report the fight on Sadiku Street in the Mile 12
area where he lived.
Our correspondent learnt that Yosua and
two others were arrested by the police on Friday, October 9, from where
they were reportedly transferred to the Ketu division.
The suspects were afterwards taken to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, for further investigation.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the
family members of Yosua had made efforts to explain the graduate’s
non-involvement to the police, but the efforts had not yielded any
result.
Speaking with our correspondent while
being paraded, Yosua said he was held at gunpoint and was forced to
write the statement at the station, minutes after he had come to report
the fight.
He said, “It was on Friday, October 9,
on my street in the Mile 12 area. The street fight started at about 8pm.
My friends and I were in a shop discussing when we heard bottles
breaking a few metres away. We quickly ran inside the compound of one of
my friends.
“That was where I hid while the thugs
fought on my street. After about 10 minutes, I came out, and found out
that one of my friends, Bisi Olateju, was injured. I then told others
that I was going to the police station to report the fight. I went to
the Mile 12 Police Post to make the report.
“When I was going back home, one of the
police officers, a woman, said I should be on the lookout, and bring
anyone who was among those fighting.
“I then rushed my friend, Bisi
(Olateju), to the hospital. As I stepped out of the hospital premises,
one of the hoodlums, who learnt I went to the station to report, came
around to make trouble.
“After much noise, he was beaten by some
other persons, and we all went to the police station. The hoodlum was
slightly injured in the mouth. When we got to the station, to my
surprise, I was arrested and detained.
“I told the policemen that I was the one
who came earlier to report the street fight. One of them just pointed a
rifle at me, and said I should begin to write a statement. That was how
I was detained.
“Later on, I was transferred with the
hoodlum to Ketu division and then to SDCI, Panti. I had never been
involved in violence. I made a mistake of going to the police to report
the incident.
“A policeman, Adeyemi, who is attached
to Ketu division, is the mastermind of my ordeals. My family members had
gone to explain to him on several occasions, but he would not listen.”
Our correspondent gathered that Yosua,
who studied Information Technology, and finished his National Youth
Service Corps programme in February 2015, had yet to get a job.
The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai
Owoseni, in a briefing before the parade, said the men were arrested as
suspected hoodlums, adding that investigations were ongoing on the
matter.
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