Policemen attached to the Anti-Kidnapping and
Anti-Cultism Squad of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence
Department, Lagos State Police Command, have been accused of collecting N50,000
before granting bail to one Blessing Taiwo, who was arrested for alleged theft.
Although the suspect was released on Saturday after the
money was paid, the police allegedly seized her mobile phone pending when a
balance of N20,000 would be paid on Tuesday.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspect’s sister, Florence
Taiwo, who always took food to her in the cell, was allegedly molested by the
policemen who touched breasts and dipped hands into her private parts before
allowing her to take the food into the cell.
Our correspondent gathered that Blessing, a mother of
two, had been arrested on Monday after her boss, Mrs. Abiola Osagie, accused
her of stealing $50,000 while the latter was away on a trip.
Osagie had alerted policemen from the Ikoyi division, who
transferred the matter to the SCIID, Yaba, for further investigation.
Although the case bordered on alleged theft, it was
transferred to the Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Cultism Squad on Hogan Bassey
Crescent, Surulere, where the victim was allegedly locked up in the same with a
suspect who had a mental problem.
After spending three days in the cell and the
intervention of the Office of the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer
and an Assistant Commissioner of Police, the suspect was released on bail.
However, a demand of N2m was allegedly made, which was
negotiated to N70,000.
“After we paid them N50,000, the police didn’t release
her (Blessing) phone. They said we should bring the remaining on Tuesday when
her phone would be released,” a family member told our correspondent.
On how the matter started, Blessing said she had been
working as the office administrator and assistant to Osagie for the past eight
years in an international investment and equity firm, AfricInvest.
AfricInvest is in eight countries of the world, but the
Nigerian office in Ikoyi, Lagos, is under the leadership of Osagie, who is the
Managing Director.
Blessing said, “The office cleaner was sacked more than a
year ago and since then, a new cleaner had not been employed. I have been the
one cleaning the office; washing the toilet and doing other menial duties.
“During the quarterly appraisal, I raised issues about
the general cleaning of the office and suggested we get somebody to do it.
After she travelled, I asked her driver to do the job for a fee of N10,000. I
decided to give the job to him to save cost.
“However, on the last day of the cleaning, I observed the
man messed up the chemical for the cleaning of the floor and I got a man to
assist with the clean up.
“She returned from her trip on Thursday, and by Friday,
she came to the office. I gave her feedback about the cleaning. I told her I
invited four people from outside to do the job. I didn’t tell her that her
driver did the job because if she knew, she would have asked why I paid him any
money.”
The Odogbolu, Ogun State indigene, said Osagie did not raise any issues after they both left the
office at 6pm on the Friday and also at the end of work the following Monday.
Blessing said she, however, received a call by 8.30pm on
Monday, as Osagie asked her to get to work early on Tuesday over an issue.
“When I got there, she said I should get a ladder and
climb to a particular cabinet. I thought she wanted me to bring down some
files.
“However, I found a black bag and she asked me to bring
it down. She said she left $50,000 in the bag, among other currencies, and I
told her that nobody took anything from the place because I was careful,” she
added.
Policemen from the Ikoyi division were said to have been
invited to the firm, who interrogated the suspect.
Blessing, 43, said she informed the police that the
driver and another man were involved in the cleaning and she supervised them.
The driver,
however, reportedly told the police that the bag in question had been taken
home by Osagie on Monday.
He allegedly said he noticed that the bag was heavy,
adding that he did not know the content.
A security man on the premises, who was also interviewed,
allegedly told operatives that Osagie was seen returning to the office alone
late on the same night with the bag.
PUNCH Metro learnt that operatives searched the home of
Blessing and checked her bank account balance without finding any money.
The Divisional Police Officer allegedly said there was no
evidence linking Blessing with the incident, but the complainant allegedly
insisted that she was culpable.
The matter was subsequently transferred to the SCIID,
Yaba, from where it was referred to the Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Cultism Squad
headed by CSP Akinade Adejobi.
The suspect’s sister, Folake, said, “The police at Ikoyi
told her that they didn’t find any evidence of stealing. But she (Osagie)
insisted that my sister took the money.
“The case was transferred to the SCIID, Yaba, on
Wednesday, from where it was referred to Hogan Bassey Crescent. My sister was
detained that night and we were asked to return the following day.
“During the interrogation, the driver, who agreed to
cleaning the office and collecting N10,000 said he assisted the woman to carry
the bag into the car the night preceding when she declared the money missing.
She didn’t deny it.
“The other cleaner said he didn’t spend more than 20
minutes on the premises and he assisted in mixing the chemical. When it was my
sister’s turn to talk, she (Osagie) asked her to keep quiet and she should only
respond to questioning.”
She said after the intervention of the Lagos police PRO
and the ACP, Adejobi agreed to give the suspect bail.
Another member of the family, Florence, said she had yet
to recover from the harassment she suffered at the police formation while
taking food to Blessing in the cell.
She also alleged that her sister was subjected to inhuman
treatment.
She said, “The stench in that station was horrible and I
later realised that it came from my sister’s cell, where a mentally deranged
woman was being held for alleged ritual dealings.
“I personally went
through hell. Any time I was going to give her food, they would collect a bribe
of N1,000 to allow me in.
“When I get in, the policemen will start touching my
body, including putting hands in my private parts.
“There is a particular one that has been harassing me
with calls and asking me to date him. The policemen there are not normal; they
wear earrings in their tongues, ears and nostrils.”
PUNCH Metro obtained a petition on the case by the
Network on Police Reform in Nigeria, calling on the new Commissioner of Police
in the state, Edgal Imohimi, to investigate the matter.
The petition, dated September 1, which was signed by the
group’s National Coordinator, Okechukwu Nwanguma, wondered why the case was
transferred to the Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Cultism Squad, lamenting the role
played by Adejobi, as he initially refused administrative bail to the suspect.
The group said not only did Adejobi detain Blessing for
three days, which violated her rights, he also collected N50,000 for bail as
against the police ethos of ‘bail is free.’
It said, “In the first place, a case of stealing ought
not to be taken to or investigated by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit… And the OC
decided to do the complainant’s illegal biddings, which the DPO at Ikoyi
professionally refused to do.
“NOPRIN is shocked at the impunity with which the OC
Anti-Kidnapping assumed the role of investigator, prosecutor and executioner.
He has shown obvious interest and bias in this case. The conduct of the OC
manifests notoriety for corruption and abuse of police power. He is also a bad
influence on other officers under him.
“Police officers who sexually abuse female detainees or
women who come in contact with them should not be allowed to remain in the
police force. It is an egregious abuse that should be treated with great
seriousness.”
The group called for investigations into the incident and
alleged acts of misconduct and infractions of the law by the OC and some
officers under him.
The complainant, Osagie, said she had nothing to gain
from wrongly accusing Blessing.
She said, “Nobody can deny that the bag was taken from
the office that night. And indeed it was brought back. The reason it was taken
was because of a key; the content obviously was not there. It was taken out of
shock; out of the fact that, ‘How can money go missing in an office?’ And the
fact that the bag was properly opened to see what was inside and as soon as it
was discovered that it was empty – my house is just a few minutes from the
office – it was taken back. It was the same night the police and Blessing were
called to come to the office early the following day.
“With my pedigree, there is no reason that I would want
to incriminate Blessing. I don’t lack that kind of amount. It is a substantial
amount for anybody, but it is not an amount that will kill me or take me to
hell. So, I don’t have any reason to incriminate somebody who, when I came back
from vacation, I bought something for every member of her family. It is a case
of my word against theirs.
“The fact is that there was money in that bag and today,
there is no money. It is a mystery that has to be unravelled. I have gone
through a stress in a week that I haven’t gone through in my life. What is my
benefit in that? That I want to get the money that I didn’t have, or expect
Blessing to raise such funds?
“What is important for me is that we should let the
process run its course. I didn’t even go there (Anti-Kidnapping Section) today
(Saturday). I do not want to interfere and I will not want to be a clog in the
wheel of a process that I started.
“I have reduced interaction, so that there is no
misrepresentation. I haven’t called anybody there in two days to put pressure
or tell them what to do. It is not in my place. I didn’t want any of this to
happen. It was supposed to be a normal conversation and when I didn’t get
anything, I decided to go on,” she added.
The Lagos State police spokesperson, Olarinde
Famous-Cole, said the allegations had also been trending on the social media,
saying the command would investigate them.
In a statement on Sunday, he said the Investigating
Police Officer, Sergeant Kudeinbu Sheu, had been arrested and was being
interrogated at the X-Squad.
He said, “The command wants to reassure members of the
public that proper investigation will be carried out and the command will like
to encourage the suspect, Blessing Taiwo, to come forward with relevant
information to aid the police in the ongoing investigation.”
Source:Punch
Tags
Society