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How SARS Took My Eye, Framed Me For Armed Robbery - Ex-corps Member -
4 years ago
~5.1 mins read
A graduate of Marketing from the Anambra State
University (now Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
University), Uli, Anthony Onuagbara, tells OLUFEMI
OLANIYI how members of the disbanded Special Anti-
Robbery Squad caused him to lose his right eye after
allegedly beating him up and arraigning him in court for
armed robbery.
You were a corps member in 2012. Where were you
posted for your primary assignment?
I was posted to the Bursar's Office at the Ekiti State
University, Ado-Ekiti for my primary assignment. I read
Marketing at the Anambra State University (now
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University).
Can you recall how you were brutalised by policemen
attached to the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad?
It happened in August 2012. I was at home around the
Adebayo area of Ado-Ekiti.
It happened around 8pm. A
corps member living in the same compound with me came
back home with a sex worker. About five minutes later,
the girl stormed out of the house angrily and verbally
abused the corps member.
I asked him what happened
and he told me that he picked up the sex worker at Fajuyi
area and brought her home without agreeing on the price.
But he said when they got home, the woman insisted on
collecting N2,000 or thereabouts but he could not afford it
as a corps member. He said the woman became angry
and stormed out of the house. He went back to his room
and I went to bed. I was in bed when some armed
policemen came and forced our doors open.
Why did they do that?
The lady went and told them that she was sexually
abused. We later found out that they were the sex
worker's regular customers so she lied against the corps
member staying in the same compound with me. Those
who came were with the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and
they started beating everybody. They didn't even ask for
the person that had dealings with the sex worker.
They
beat me and other people there. One of them hit my right
eye with the butt of his rifle. I started feeling pain but the
beating did not stop.
What offence were you accused of committing?
They said somebody among us sexually abused the lady
and without asking who even did that, they descended on
us and beat us mercilessly. I thought I would die that night
but God saved me.
What happened after that?
We were taken to the police station and we were there for
four nights.
Were you taken to hospital for treatment?
Which treatment? You don't know these people at all. But
no matter how terrible a team may be, there will still be
one nice person among them. One of them bought drugs
for me and that was the only medication I was given.
We were later taken to the commissioner of police at the
time and I told him I was a corps member and was
brutalised by his men.
The commissioner of police was confused; I think he was
nice but he wanted to be sure that I was innocent. He
asked me to swear with the Bible and I did.
I told him one
of the SARS men bought a drug for me and I showed him
the drugs. It was at that point that he believed I was not
lying. I showed him the SARS man that bought the drugs
for me.
What happened after that?
Before that, the OC SARS (officer in charge) brought out
some weapons and put them before me. He then took my
photograph together with the weapons. He brought out
some guns and knives and other things and said they
found those weapons on us.
So, we were eventually arraigned in a court – I think a
Magistrates' Court around Fajuyi. We were charged for
armed robbery; that was when I knew some policemen are
worse than the devil himself. You beat me up, damaged
my eye and still called me an armed robber.
It was
terrible.
How did the armed robbery case go?
A fellow corps member who is a lawyer assisted us a lot.
She got a lawyer, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria to
defend us. The case was argued and we were later
acquitted when the judge saw the inconsistencies in their
claims.
What happened after you were acquitted?
I wrote a petition against the police. The Inspector
General of Police at the time sent some policemen to my
house at Adebayo, where I lived then. The matter attracted
public attention and sympathy because I was a corps
member.
The policemen brought the OC SARS to my
house. I saw that they had tortured the SARS men that
came to our house and asked if I could identify them.
They came in three vans. They brought out the OC SARS
and he had wounds all over his body; they must have
tortured him. Those who brought them asked if they were
the policemen that beat me and I said yes.
How did it go after that?
I became afraid. I saw how the OC SARS was beaten and
knew if he was released, he could arrange for me to be
killed so I left my house and lost interest in everything. I
didn't want to be killed. I didn't get anything else from the
police.
Did the National Youth Service Corps get involved in the
case?
That was what got me angry.
The NYSC did not do
anything. Some corps members said they would disrupt
the passing-out parade because of my case. They said the
NYSC ought to have supported me but they left me to my
fate.
What happened to the right eye where the policeman hit
you?
The eye became blind completely. I can't see anything
with it. When I close my left eye, I can't see anything. I
was looking horrible with it and each time I saw myself in
the mirror, I always cried. I cried for many reasons: One, I
lost one eye all of a sudden, not because I committed any
offence, but because some people just oppressed me.
Also, the eye reminds me of what I passed through then.
But I thank God, I am alive.
One of my friends came from overseas and was told I had
become withdrawn because of the bad eye.
He took me to
hospital and I was given an artificial eye. I can remove the
artificial eye and put it back. It's better now because if
you don't come close to me, you won't observe that I
can't see with it. After the incident, I was treated at the
Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital.
What are you doing now?
I worked with the Anambra State Government for some
time but I am in Abidjan, Côte D' Ivoire now to learn a skill
from one of my brothers.
Were you around during the #EndSARS protest?
I was not around. I was in Abidjan during the protests.
Would you have joined the protest if you were in Nigeria?
I would not have joined the protest but I would have joined
in sharing the story of how SARS took one eye from me
and still arraigned me in court as an armed robber. It was
God that saved me; if the court had believed them, that
might have been my end. It is only a fool that will not
support that SARS must be disbanded.
A woman reported
an incident to them because she was their girlfriend and
they came, brutalised us and took my right eye from me. I
know God will surely fight for me even if I don't get justice
from human beings and government institutions..
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