Published 28th Oct, 2021

By Emmanuel Uti

Innocent Ebubechukwu, a front-end developer, has accused the police officers at Ago-Okota Police Station of assaulting him and stealing his iPhone Xr.

Ebubechukwu was two minutes from his house in front of Supersaver Mall, Ago, at about 8 pm on October 19, when a shabby tricycle parked near him. Then two police officers in uniform and a man in mufti alighted and began to interrogate him.

When the officers could not fault him, they asked to search his waist pouch. Upon seeing his iPhone Xr, they asked him to step into the tricycle and follow them to the police station.

“I refused to follow them to the police station. I told them I would rather not go, but they did not take it lightly. They began to beat me. I tried to explain myself to them, but a police van double-crossed the tricycle. This was when I ran away,” Ebubechukwu said.

The following day, he went to the police station with his mother who knows Ladi Tarpaya, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ago-Okota.

At the police station, Tarpaya presented three officers and asked Ebubechukwu to identify the assaulters.

“None of the officers were among those that assaulted me. I feel the DPO deliberately hid the officers from me. I finally had to leave the police station without my phone,” he said.

“Till today, I have not got my phone. This is how they behave. No other police officers would have done this other than those at Ago Police Station.”

FIJ placed several calls to CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, the spokesperson for Lagos police, but they were not answered. A text sent to his phone was also not responded to.

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