Detainee dies minutes into freedom


ABIODUN ADELAJA, Abuja

Police have commenced investigations into the sudden death of 25-year-old Chukwuma Ugochukwu, moments after he was freed on bail from the custody of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State.

The investigation which was ordered by a deputy inspector-general of police was sequel to a petition to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions by the deceased’s father, Mr Sylvanus Ugochukwu. He had alleged that his now-deceased son was tortured to death by the operatives of SARS, in Lagos State, in March last year over an offence he did not commit.

The late Chukwuma, the father narrated, was sent from the family home in Ihiala, Anambra State, to Lagos last year to fetch his ailing younger brother when he was arrested around the Maryland Bus Stop area over alleged an alleged robbery some weeks earlier in Ikeja.

He further said that efforts by the Ugochukwu family to get the deceased released to them or charged to court proved abortive until his health deteriorated.

Mr. Ugochukwu, however lamented that after spending three weeks in detention during which he was subjected to torture and all manner of inhuman treatment by the police, Chukwuma was granted bail but he died about five minutes later.

"Sometime in March 2008 I sent the deceased from Ihiala in Anambra State to Lagos to see and possibly bring back the younger brother who was sick at the time

"Before he left for Lagos he received a call from a girl who pretended to be a friend. The said girl asked (Chukwuma) to tell her when he will be coming to Lagos. The (young man) who was already due in Lagos in a few days’ time, on my instructions, informed the girl that he was coming to Lagos.

"On the appointed day, the girl asked the deceased to stop at the Maryland Bus Stop so that she could pick him up from there.

"The deceased obliged and waited at Maryland on arrival. The deceased waited to see the girl but was surprised to be arrested by the police and taken to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja.

"At the police station, the deceased was informed by one Mr Kayode, a policeman, that he was a robbery suspect. According to the policeman, a stolen phone was used in calling deceased’s sister few minutes after the robbery incident in Lagos. The deceased and the sister reside at Ihiala in Anambra State and were at Ihiala at the time of the alleged robbery.

"All the explanation of the deceased that he knew nothing about the alleged robbery fell on deaf ears. The intervention of the deceased’s cousin and a legal practitioner did not save the deceased as the police had insisted that the deceased must make available his sister who had received the call from the stolen phone.

"The police continued torturing the deceased with lethal weapons in order to extract confessional statements from him. As a result of the beatings the deceased sustained several injuries.

"That on March 12 the deceased’s cousin who is a policeman and lawyer went to SARS and the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in charge of the case brought out the deceased. Seeing that the deceased’s health had deteriorated, the cousin requested the IPO to allow the deceased to seek medical attention but the IPO refused.

"On March 14, when the deceased’s sister arrived in Lagos from Ihiala, the deceased was brought in a state of coma with bruises and blood all over his body. The police procured a woman who administered substances suspected to be drip.

"The deceased’s cousin protested the way the police treated the deceased. It was then the police reluctantly granted him bail to enable him seek medical attention. The suspect, Ugochukwu, however died on his way to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) at Ikeja, a distance of about five minutes from the SARS office," he narrated.

Ugochukwu also told the stunned members of the Hon CID Maduabum-led Committee on Public Petitions that the police were still in possession of the N8, 000 and a GSM handset belonging to the deceased.

When the case came up for hearing over the weekend, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Marvel Akpoyibo, who had accompanied DIG Onovo admitted that although the records in his possession indicated that Chukwuma was detained over a robbery, he had been granted bail. He denied knowledge of Chukwuma’s death.

At this juncture, Hon Maduabum drew a nexus between Chukwuma’s sudden death barely five minutes after being granted bail and the serial torture he was subjected to in the hands of the police.

"Nobody is on trial here. We are concerned that human life is involved here. Today it is Mr Ugochukwu who has petitioned over the murder of his son. We do not pray for it to be our lot, but tomorrow it could be the DIG or you on this side asking for justice," Maduabum stated in an emotion-laden tone.


Apparently moved by the sentiments expressed by the federal lawmaker, DIG Onovo promptly directed investigation into the matter to unravel the level of police complicity in the death of Chukwuma Ugochukwu.

Yep, that's 9ja for you.If the boy's father was "somebody" in this country, he would have been released as soon as they came for him.This is just a tip of the ice berg.Hundreds if not thousands of young men have died in this way.Thousands upon thousands are languishing in cells and prisons for nothing.God save us.

The reason this boy died is coz he's father didn't bring enough "kola".Police in Nigeria don't arrest people to keep justice causes.They arrest people for bail money.And i thought bail was supposed to be free as its written in the constitution.

I do not blame the police though.I blame we the people coz as they say "People get what they deserve".It's Nigerians like us that are in government,police,navy,army and all that.It's in our nature to overdo things when we are in positions of power whether as a "korofo" or "IG".Dat na why IG wey be d law fit get mind chop billions upon billions.We are our problem.No be spirits dey for police or govt.Na our wickedness dey finish us.