Published 6th Feb, 2024

By Joseph Adeiye

Young men living alone in Abuja have narrated what FIJ has found to be a concerted raid of apartments by the Federal Capital Territory Police Command on Monday morning.

Demola Gbajabiamila and Somto Official, two notable figures on X, the social microblogging platform, shared more personal experiences of the police’s armed robbery style of getting young men working remotely.

“I asked them what prompted this harassment in the first place. These were their words: “We were informed that some young people live in this house and you all don’t go to work. You stay indoors always. So we suspect that you all are criminals,”” Gbajabiamila, a digital communications expert, recounted.

“So, this [Monday] morning, I was stepping out of my house. I was actually at the main gate. I was about to open the gate when I saw that someone was outside. He greeted me and I responded. Then he said, “I am a NEPA official.” I’m like, “Okay, how may I help you?”

“He said they came to check our electricity meters which is quite usual…, I asked for his ID, and he said he doesn’t have it. I insisted, so he started calling his colleagues to bring his ID. What happened next shocked me to my bones. This guy opened my gate effortlessly before I could even ID him.

“Now, they had access, so there was little I could do. When he entered, like 10 men came in with him. Bro, none of them was in police uniform except for one of them who was carrying an AK-47.

“Next thing, he blurted out, “This is the Police…” I quickly comported myself and requested for ID. He didn’t have an ID but some other guy brought out a washed-up ID that was not even legible. Then they ordered me to open my apartment. I refused. That is where the problem began!

“The guy who tried to force my door open, then came back and tried to get my house key off me. That was when I started struggling with him. We dragged each other. As e de drag my shorts, I de drag am back. He wanted to remove my house key from my pocket by force, but emi gaan stubborn.”

The leader of the group eventually ordered the officer to stop wrestling with Gbajabiamila. He spoke with Gbajabiamila and convinced him to yield to a search.

Gbajabiamila said that the officer who searched his apartment couldn’t find incriminating evidence in his house.

“After about 30 minutes of searching, nothing was incriminating to see. So, I asked them to leave. Now, this is the unbelievable part. They asked me to change my clothes, and I asked them for what? They said I must go to the station,” Gbajabiamila narrated.

“So, I asked them if they’d never heard of remote work or work-from-home before. They said, “When you get to the station, you will explain what remote work is…” See me, see wahala o! I stood my ground and told them I was not going anywhere until they told me my offence.

“They requested to see my photo gallery and bank apps but I refused. It was when they saw “Gbajabiamila” consistently on my accounts, that they decided to back down. They equally harassed my neighbours too. In fact, they packed all the young tenants in the house.”

Gbajabiamila shares the same surname with Femi Gbajabiamila, President Bola Tinubu’s chief of staff.

He claimed that the officers at Phase 4 Police Command in Kubwa told him they would be back for him.

From the information available, Phase 4 Police Command in Kubwa is a haven of rogues from top to bottom.

They promised me that they'll be back and I know that they'll be back. I full ground ooo but @PoliceNG @PoliceNG_CRU @FCT_PoliceNG, please take note. pic.twitter.com/CAn43U7VLi
— Demola Of Lagos 𓃵 (@OmoGbajaBiamila) February 5, 2024

Somto, a software engineer and app developer, had the same experience on Monday.

“So police officers came to my place this [Monday] morning and handcuffed me saying I was under arrest (for a crime they wouldn’t tell me about),” Somto posted on X.

“After searching through all my rooms for whatever evidence they could find, then proceeding to search through my phones, laptops etc (at this point already figured what this was about). Asked me what I do for a living, told them I build apps and mobile games, you could clearly see over a dozen of them installed on my phones, and dozens more on app stores.

“Even just putting on my laptop right there on the screen was a mobile app I was developing. Threatened that if they take me to the station the forensics would find anything implicating on my devices, even the ones I’ve deleted.

“Told them unless they want to plant something on me, they wouldn’t see even as little as me charging someone an extra N100 for something not to talk of scamming. Long story short, after looking through all my chats they figured I was clean, they then told me I should just be careful.”

So police officers came to my place this morning & handcuffed me saying I was under arrest (for a crime they wouldn’t tell me about).
After searching through all my rooms for whatever evidence they could find, then proceeding to search through my phones, laptops etc (at this… https://t.co/NjydOe4dtI
— Somto (@somteeofficial) February 5, 2024

Somto and Gbajabiamila live in Abuja. Gbajabiamila said that the police officers also harassed his neighbours, who happened to be young men.

Josephine Adeh, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, did not answer FIJ’s phone calls. Adeh had not responded to texts on her phone and X at press time.

The FCT command’s handle on X had also not responded to FIJ’s direct message at press time.

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