Published 31st Oct, 2023

By Daniel Ojukwu

Policemen attached to the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, are unlawfully detaining 23-year-old Hammed Ibrahim.

They also are insisting on not entertaining bail applications because Hammed’s mother and two sisters are female and they would only release him to a man.

He has now passed four nights in a holding cell as the police continue to insist they are keeping him to aid their investigation.

HOW IT BEGAN

On Friday night, some policemen showed up in the Gbagada area of Lagos State in a red Toyota Sienna and grabbed Hammed off the streets without a warrant or explanation. The only witness was his 20-year-old younger brother who confirmed the development to FIJ.

Panicky, this witness ran home to inform Fatimah, his elder sister, and they both began a frantic search through Gbagada, Pedro and Shomolu stations as they could not reach Hammed’s phone.

“His number later called us, and someone said he was in Panti,” Fatimah told FIJ. “It was a policeman that called us using his number. My mom and I wanted to go there that night, but it was late, so we went on Saturday morning.”

She told FIJ that when the family arrived at the station on Saturday, the police informed them that a complainant had claimed their phone was stolen, and that the stolen phone was found with Hammed.

“Hammed recently swapped his iPhone XR for iPhone 11, and this new one was the one the police found with him,” Fatimah told FIJ. “They asked him to provide the dealer he bought it from, and he told them the dealer had gone to Ogun State for the weekend and would be back on Monday, and then they refused to grant him bail.

“On Monday, we learned the Gbagada police had arrested the person who sold the phone to my brother, but the police in Panti told us to pay N10,000 to fuel their cars so they could pick the real culprit in Gbagada.

“We ended up paying N8,000, and they collected it. While we were following them to Gbagada to pick the boy, some of the policemen told us that they wouldn’t allow us bail Hammed unless we came with a man.”

NO BAIL STILL

After they had the suspect in custody, the police instructed Hammed’s family to go home and return on Tuesday when the complainant would be available. They still denied them rights to bail him.

FIJ called the IPO on Monday evening. He had been introduced to Hammed’s family as ‘Kabiyesi’.

In a telephone interview, Kabiyesi denied refusing bail to Hammed’s family, but when FIJ asked him why he still was in their custody despite his family’s sustained efforts, he said, “I am not in the office now, but if they come tomorrow, we see the complainant, go deep into the matter, and we release anybody that needs to be released.

“We have asked the sister to come with a very reliable surety tomorrow. When we listen to both parties, we will see if he is justified to be released or not.”

We asked him if he had a court order warranting him to detain Hammed longer than the constitutionally stipulated 24-hour period, and he declined to answer. He also refused to answer when we asked if Hammed’s mother was a reliable surety who could bail her son.

Between Friday and Monday, FIJ called the Lagos Police Complaints Response Unit (CRU), and while a responder told us on Monday that they would get back to us, they did not do so.

FIJ also called Benjamin Hundeyin, the state police public relations officer (PPRO), but he did not take our calls.

Ojukwu is a reporter with FIJ in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.

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