The Inspector General of
Police
The Nigeria Police
Force Headquarters
Abuja.
Dear Sir,
SANITISE THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE: PURGE IT OF MURDERERS AND OTHER DANGEROUS ELEMENTS
NOPRIN is seriously concerned about consistent reports it receives on an almost daily basis of patterns of gross human rights atrocities committed by police officers particularly, operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the country which clearly show that the conduct and operations of the Nigeria Police mostly bear no resemblance to the requirements of the laws governing the operations of the Police in Nigeria.
The use of unprovoked and unwarranted violence and brutality against persons, including women and children, in the course of arrest; extortion and outright robbery of suspects (by way of taking suspects to their banks and forcing them to empty their accounts and handing the money to SARS operatives); forcing accused persons to release their ATM cards and compelling them to disclose their ATM secret PIN, with which SARS operatives go to empty their bank accounts; the use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment to pressure accused persons to, in many instances, make self-incriminating 'confessions'; indefinite detention and denial of detained persons access to family, lawyers and doctors; summary executions and disappearances of persons in custody- are all too familiar occurrences.
The latest in the endless list of shocking complaints of abuse of police powers and gross violation of human rights of citizens is the one we just received on Tuesday 19, May 2015 concerning the alleged 'DETENTION, TORTURE AND DEHUMANIZATION OF MR VICTOR ANAMELECHI BY SERGEANT ABDURAMAN AND HIS TEAM FROM SARS, IKEJA, LAGOS'.
We reproduce hereunder, the relevant text of the complaint as narrated to us by the victim's brother, Mr. Cyprian Anamelechi.
Mr. Cyprian Anamelechi informed NOPRIN as follows:
1. That '...some men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, Lagos unleashed untold mayhem on members of their family, and thereby rubbishing the public image of the Nigeria Police'.
2. That their brother, Victor Anamaelechi lived with his family at Bashorun Ogundairo Estate, Waterside, off Ago Road, Amuwo, Lagos.
3. That Victor’s wife, Onyinyechi was at home with her children and some relations at the above address on Monday, 15th December 2014 when three armed policemen in mufti stormed in with Victor, whom they had arrested on his way out and handcuffed. The policemen turned out to be from SARS Ikeja, led by one Sergeant Abduraman.
4. That immediately the policemen got into Victor’s house, they started asking ‘where is the money, where is the money!’ and when Victor’s wife, who was terrified could not answer them, one of the policemen hit her so hard on the face that she fell down.
5. That the men from SARS then set about searching the entire house inside-out, taking with them every kobo they found in the house, including jewelries, documents, credentials, motor particulars, land documents and other valuables.
6. That apart from Victor, Sergeant Abdulraman and his men, (named Hassan and Busso) also arrested his wife, Onyinye, their two little children, one aged 5 and the other just above 1 year.
7. That they also arrested Onyinye’s brother and her course mate, who visited them. The SARS men forcefully took Victor’s little dog and his two cars, Acura MDX and Toyota Corrola Verso.
8. That when Victor and his family were brought to SARS, Ikeja they were taken to the torture chamber where Victor was accused of armed robbery and subjected to a long and gruelling torture in the presence of his wife and children, as the SARS men demanded to know where he had money.
9. That at a point Sergeant Abdulraman pointed a gun on Victor’s 5-year-old son, Daniel and threatened to shoot him if Victor refused to tell them where he kept money.
10. That even when he was forced to tell them that he had money in GTB, Amuwo branch they continued to torture him until he fainted.
11. That the policemen then turned on Victor’s wife, Onyinye, and kicked her from all sides, demanding to know her husband’s other bank accounts. She said she did not know and begged them to leave her because she was pregnant.
12. That the policemen stripped her naked in the presence of everyone there.
13. That on the second night of the detention, Victor’s wife had a miscarriage in the cell and the whole place was filled with blood. For three days she and the children did not taste any food.
14. That on three different occasions Sergeant Abdulraman and his men took Victor to his bank branch at GTB, Amuwo and forced him to withdraw a total of N7.7Million and handed over to them.
15. That on the night of 29th December the cries of Victor’s children attracted the attention of a senior police officer at SARS who came to the cell and ordered that Onyinye and the children should be released immediately. They were released on 30th December 2014, after two weeks and two days.
16. That after she was released, Victor's wife had on Saturday, February 21, 2015 taken permission from one of the SARS team members called Hassan to go to her residence and collect some clothes for her children to use in her relation's residence where they were squatting, having been barred from their house..
17. That she was accompanied by her brother-in-law, Mike, and while at home, a squad of 8 heavily armed policemen, led by the same Sergeant Abdulraman again stormed the house with three vehicles, and descended heavily on Onyinye and Mike.
18. That thereafter, Sergeant Abudulraman and his men removed all the furniture, fittings and household items from the house and carted them away in their vehicles.
19. That before taking Onyinye and Mike away with them, they destroyed other house fittings which they could not remove. They also confiscated Onyinye’s ATM card and forced her to disclose the pin number to them.
20. That on the way to SARS, Sergeant Abdulraman directed that the things taken from Victor’s house be taken to ‘the workshop’. Onyinye and Mike were eventually detained till the following evening.
21. That when Onyinye went to her bank the following day she discovered that her account had been emptied.
22. That on Monday, 23rd February 2015, Victor’s younger brother, Azunna, got a call from SARS Ikeja to bring along the keys to his shop at Ojo-Alaba market where he sells generators. The following day he complied, only to be arrested and brought in handcuffs to the shop in Ojo-Alaba.
23.That the police team then carried away all the goods (generators) in the shop and then detained Azunna for four days.
24. That till date, Victor has not been charged to court and is still in the custody of SARS, Ikeja where he is being subjected to serial and cruel torture.
25. That the rampaging SARS operatives have made the life of their entire family very traumatic, and have subjected them to palpable fear, distress and apprehension.
26. That it is in view of these terrible circumstances and the fear that their brother’s life is in dire danger that they hereby urgently appeal to the IGP to intervene on their behalf and other Nigerians suffering similar fate in the hands of officers of the NPF.
27. That they appeal to the IGP to order a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation into the activities of these over zealous and wild SARS men who have gone beyond their call of duty and are still poised to trampling on the basic fundamental rights of their family members.
NOPRIN CALLS:
NOPRIN strongly recommends to the IGP as follows, that:
The Nigeria Police authorities under the leadership of the current IGP, Solomon Arase, is called upon to put an end to arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention without charge.
Every arrested person has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to the law in a public trial at which he/she has had all the guarantees necessary for his or her defence. It is for the court to decide if a suspect is guilty. This can only be done after all the evidence has been heard and the person has been proven to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Police must always ensure immediate release or charge and proper trial before a regular court respecting international standards of due process of all those held in detention;
The police must always allow all those held in custody for whatever reason full access to lawyers of their choice, their families and private doctors;
The police must ensure that conditions of detention and imprisonment are in full compliance with international standards.
Police authorities must enforce codes of conduct and ensure discipline and professionalism in the police by ensuring that all police officers responsible for breach of the fundamental human rights and due process guarantees for detainees are appropriately punished.
NOPRIN hereby reiterates its earlier call on the IGP, for the umpteenth time, to reorganise SARS and the entire anti crime operations of the NPF across Nigeria. This will include investigating the crimes committed by the various Officers in Charge and other personnel of SARS and bringing them to account for unlawful detention, torture, extortion, extrajudicial killings and disappearances of persons held in their custody.
The Nigeria Police
Force Headquarters
Abuja.
Dear Sir,
SANITISE THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE: PURGE IT OF MURDERERS AND OTHER DANGEROUS ELEMENTS
NOPRIN is seriously concerned about consistent reports it receives on an almost daily basis of patterns of gross human rights atrocities committed by police officers particularly, operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the country which clearly show that the conduct and operations of the Nigeria Police mostly bear no resemblance to the requirements of the laws governing the operations of the Police in Nigeria.
The use of unprovoked and unwarranted violence and brutality against persons, including women and children, in the course of arrest; extortion and outright robbery of suspects (by way of taking suspects to their banks and forcing them to empty their accounts and handing the money to SARS operatives); forcing accused persons to release their ATM cards and compelling them to disclose their ATM secret PIN, with which SARS operatives go to empty their bank accounts; the use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment to pressure accused persons to, in many instances, make self-incriminating 'confessions'; indefinite detention and denial of detained persons access to family, lawyers and doctors; summary executions and disappearances of persons in custody- are all too familiar occurrences.
The latest in the endless list of shocking complaints of abuse of police powers and gross violation of human rights of citizens is the one we just received on Tuesday 19, May 2015 concerning the alleged 'DETENTION, TORTURE AND DEHUMANIZATION OF MR VICTOR ANAMELECHI BY SERGEANT ABDURAMAN AND HIS TEAM FROM SARS, IKEJA, LAGOS'.
We reproduce hereunder, the relevant text of the complaint as narrated to us by the victim's brother, Mr. Cyprian Anamelechi.
Mr. Cyprian Anamelechi informed NOPRIN as follows:
1. That '...some men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, Lagos unleashed untold mayhem on members of their family, and thereby rubbishing the public image of the Nigeria Police'.
2. That their brother, Victor Anamaelechi lived with his family at Bashorun Ogundairo Estate, Waterside, off Ago Road, Amuwo, Lagos.
3. That Victor’s wife, Onyinyechi was at home with her children and some relations at the above address on Monday, 15th December 2014 when three armed policemen in mufti stormed in with Victor, whom they had arrested on his way out and handcuffed. The policemen turned out to be from SARS Ikeja, led by one Sergeant Abduraman.
4. That immediately the policemen got into Victor’s house, they started asking ‘where is the money, where is the money!’ and when Victor’s wife, who was terrified could not answer them, one of the policemen hit her so hard on the face that she fell down.
5. That the men from SARS then set about searching the entire house inside-out, taking with them every kobo they found in the house, including jewelries, documents, credentials, motor particulars, land documents and other valuables.
6. That apart from Victor, Sergeant Abdulraman and his men, (named Hassan and Busso) also arrested his wife, Onyinye, their two little children, one aged 5 and the other just above 1 year.
7. That they also arrested Onyinye’s brother and her course mate, who visited them. The SARS men forcefully took Victor’s little dog and his two cars, Acura MDX and Toyota Corrola Verso.
8. That when Victor and his family were brought to SARS, Ikeja they were taken to the torture chamber where Victor was accused of armed robbery and subjected to a long and gruelling torture in the presence of his wife and children, as the SARS men demanded to know where he had money.
9. That at a point Sergeant Abdulraman pointed a gun on Victor’s 5-year-old son, Daniel and threatened to shoot him if Victor refused to tell them where he kept money.
10. That even when he was forced to tell them that he had money in GTB, Amuwo branch they continued to torture him until he fainted.
11. That the policemen then turned on Victor’s wife, Onyinye, and kicked her from all sides, demanding to know her husband’s other bank accounts. She said she did not know and begged them to leave her because she was pregnant.
12. That the policemen stripped her naked in the presence of everyone there.
13. That on the second night of the detention, Victor’s wife had a miscarriage in the cell and the whole place was filled with blood. For three days she and the children did not taste any food.
14. That on three different occasions Sergeant Abdulraman and his men took Victor to his bank branch at GTB, Amuwo and forced him to withdraw a total of N7.7Million and handed over to them.
15. That on the night of 29th December the cries of Victor’s children attracted the attention of a senior police officer at SARS who came to the cell and ordered that Onyinye and the children should be released immediately. They were released on 30th December 2014, after two weeks and two days.
16. That after she was released, Victor's wife had on Saturday, February 21, 2015 taken permission from one of the SARS team members called Hassan to go to her residence and collect some clothes for her children to use in her relation's residence where they were squatting, having been barred from their house..
17. That she was accompanied by her brother-in-law, Mike, and while at home, a squad of 8 heavily armed policemen, led by the same Sergeant Abdulraman again stormed the house with three vehicles, and descended heavily on Onyinye and Mike.
18. That thereafter, Sergeant Abudulraman and his men removed all the furniture, fittings and household items from the house and carted them away in their vehicles.
19. That before taking Onyinye and Mike away with them, they destroyed other house fittings which they could not remove. They also confiscated Onyinye’s ATM card and forced her to disclose the pin number to them.
20. That on the way to SARS, Sergeant Abdulraman directed that the things taken from Victor’s house be taken to ‘the workshop’. Onyinye and Mike were eventually detained till the following evening.
21. That when Onyinye went to her bank the following day she discovered that her account had been emptied.
22. That on Monday, 23rd February 2015, Victor’s younger brother, Azunna, got a call from SARS Ikeja to bring along the keys to his shop at Ojo-Alaba market where he sells generators. The following day he complied, only to be arrested and brought in handcuffs to the shop in Ojo-Alaba.
23.That the police team then carried away all the goods (generators) in the shop and then detained Azunna for four days.
24. That till date, Victor has not been charged to court and is still in the custody of SARS, Ikeja where he is being subjected to serial and cruel torture.
25. That the rampaging SARS operatives have made the life of their entire family very traumatic, and have subjected them to palpable fear, distress and apprehension.
26. That it is in view of these terrible circumstances and the fear that their brother’s life is in dire danger that they hereby urgently appeal to the IGP to intervene on their behalf and other Nigerians suffering similar fate in the hands of officers of the NPF.
27. That they appeal to the IGP to order a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation into the activities of these over zealous and wild SARS men who have gone beyond their call of duty and are still poised to trampling on the basic fundamental rights of their family members.
NOPRIN CALLS:
NOPRIN strongly recommends to the IGP as follows, that:
The Nigeria Police authorities under the leadership of the current IGP, Solomon Arase, is called upon to put an end to arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention without charge.
Every arrested person has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to the law in a public trial at which he/she has had all the guarantees necessary for his or her defence. It is for the court to decide if a suspect is guilty. This can only be done after all the evidence has been heard and the person has been proven to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Police must always ensure immediate release or charge and proper trial before a regular court respecting international standards of due process of all those held in detention;
The police must always allow all those held in custody for whatever reason full access to lawyers of their choice, their families and private doctors;
The police must ensure that conditions of detention and imprisonment are in full compliance with international standards.
Police authorities must enforce codes of conduct and ensure discipline and professionalism in the police by ensuring that all police officers responsible for breach of the fundamental human rights and due process guarantees for detainees are appropriately punished.
NOPRIN hereby reiterates its earlier call on the IGP, for the umpteenth time, to reorganise SARS and the entire anti crime operations of the NPF across Nigeria. This will include investigating the crimes committed by the various Officers in Charge and other personnel of SARS and bringing them to account for unlawful detention, torture, extortion, extrajudicial killings and disappearances of persons held in their custody.
Sincerely,
Nwanguma Okechukwu
National Coordinator
Nwanguma Okechukwu
National Coordinator
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