The 30-year-old mechanic, Oladele
Adebanjo, who was allegedly tortured and shot in the leg by men of the
Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos State Police Command, has sued the
police for N200m damages.
PUNCH Metro had reported on
November 14, 2012, that Adebanjo was shot while in detention by SARS
policemen over allegations that he stole a commercial bus.
Adebanjo had acquired a Mazda bus model
E2000 on a hire purchase agreement of N1.8m from Olatunji Adeyemi in
August 2011. The bus was, however, stolen before the full payment could
be made.
Adeyemi, who was irked by the
development, reported the incident at the Oworo Police Division before
the matter was transferred to SARS where Adebanjo was allegedly tortured
and shot with a pistol in the leg by Taofeek Olokode, the head of the
SARS team handling the matter.
In a suit with number ID/943/12 filed
before Justice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile, of an Ikeja High Court, Adebanjo
joined the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, Lagos
State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko, Olokode (the Investigating
Police Officer) and Adeyemi in the suit.
The application filed by Adebanjo’s
lawyer, Gerald Abonyi stated, “We seek a declaration that his arrest and
incarceration by the 1st to 3rd respondents( IG, Lagos CP and Olokode
respectively) at the prompting and instigation of the 4th respondent,
Adeyemi, amounts to a gross breach of the applicant’s fundamental human
rights and the Africa Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
“We seek relief in the sum of N200m
against all the respondents jointly and severally for the gross
violation of Adebanjo’s fundamental human rights.”
Abonyi also filed with the court a copy
of a letter he wrote to the Lagos CP, which stated that the missing bus
had been found and urging the police command to investigate the
“circumstances surrounding its recovery.”
In an affidavit before the court,
Adebanjo claimed that the actions of Olokede were “premeditated,
deliberate and calculated to cause him permanent physical deformity”.
He stated, “Since my coming out of SARS
custody after being in detention for seven days, I have not been able to
work due to the serious nature of the injury sustained in the hand of
Olokode.
“I am always in and out of hospital for
the treatment of the gunshot wound and other injuries I sustained. I
have been grossly, unjustly abused and stripped of all my fundamental
human rights.”
However, Olokode, in a counter
affidavit, said Adebanjo was shot in a bid to escape from custody
adding that “escaping from lawful custody after the offence of felony
was enough provocation” to shoot him.
Counsel to the police, Mr. Cyril
Ejiofor, who represented the 1st to 3rd respondents, in a written
address to the court described the facts presented by Adebanjo as
“twisted, untrue and alarming” and prayed the court to “dismiss the
application”.
Justice Okikiolu-Ighile adjourned the case till February 7 for further hearing.
source: PUNCH
