In June 2020, Mubarak Alate, a Lagos-based shoemaker, was on his way to work when some police officers from Oyingbo Police Station grabbed him and put him in their van.

The Headfort Foundation, a human rights organisation in Nigeria, told FIJ that Alate’s only offence was walking past a police van parked by the roadside in Ebute-Meta.

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“Unknown to Alate, a stranger arrested by police that morning had pointed at him, saying they were members of the same group. At the station, Kehinde, the Divisional Crime Officer, accused Alate of being part of the people troubling the Ebute-Meta community. They moved them to the SARS office in Ikeja,” Headfort told FIJ.

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“The guy who pointed at him escaped from SARS custody. Thereafter, Mubarak was charged to court alone for the offences of conspiracy and cultism. He was then remanded in prison, and his parents had no money to perfect his bail.”

Headfort said Alate’s mother contacted them in September and they took up the matter, and that there was neither evidence nor a single witness against him. He was also never brought to trial.

The foundation said Alate regained his freedom on Wednesday after their lawyer secured his release. He had spent a year and nine months in custody.