One madam Karamat Eleha, a trader in the Balogun Market,
Lagos State, has been tortured by four policemen attached to
the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos State Command, for
stealing an iPad.
The device was said to be the property of a woman in the
Ajah area of the state, who was robbed in May, 2015.
The policemen, led by one Abiola (aka Abbey), had, while
searching for the iPad, reportedly stormed a two-storey
building in Idumagbo, Lagos Island, where Eleha lives with her
mother. It was learnt that she was not at home when the
search commenced.
According to PUNCH Metro the team searched residents’
apartments, but did not find the item.
As their mission continued, Eleha, who was said to have gone
for the fellowship in the neighbourhood, arrived home and was
asked about the iPad.
Eleha said,
“Around 10.20pm on May 14, I just returned home
from a fellowship when the policemen asked me about
a missing iPad and I told them I knew nothing about
it. They checked my bag, but nothing was found
there.”
According to Eleha, the cops insisted that they were getting
signals from a tracker, adding that the device was within the
compound.
When the cops insisted on checking an office in the same
compound where Eleha’s house is located, the cops could not
gain entry because the door was locked.
Eleha said she went to collect the keys to the office from a
pastor who owns the office. The victim said she went to a
nearby street, Ojo Giwa Street, to collect the keys.
“On getting back, they said their tracker showed that
the iPad was around the streets I passed through to
the pastor’s house,” she said.
And then the officials subsequently whisked away the 29-
year-old woman to the command headquarters, where she
was reportedly stripped naked and tortured.
“They took me to a room which they called ‘theatre’.
They stripped me naked and tortured me for hours.
When the pain became unbearable, it occurred to me
that I saw a neighbour, Mr. Goriola (Baba Ibeji), giving
an iPad to his wife while I was going out in the
morning on the fateful day. I told them and they went
to arrest the wife that same night. The following day,
Baba Ibeji was arrested.
“When they realised that I was bleeding, they took me
to a nurse, who charged them N3,000. They later gave
the nurse N1,000 to treat me.”
Eleha was released two days later on May 16 after a resident
sent a text message to the Commissioner of Police, Kayode
Aderanti.
Eleha’s mother, Islamiyat, said a former Officer in charge of
SARS, Abba Kyari, was shocked when he saw the legs of her
daugher and ordered that she be released immediately.
“Her legs were fractured. That Saturday, it was an
officer called Abba Kyari, who ordered them (the cops)
to release her immediately. He shouted when he saw
the wounds. From there, we took her to a clinic in our
area and she was given injections and drugs. When
her condition did not improve, we went to the Lagos
Island Health Centre. On June 2, I took her to a ‘bone
centre’ but I could only afford the bill for treating her
left leg.
“I want her to be treated by the police.”