The Sokoto State Police Command has arrested five officers in connection with the alleged murder of a 25-year-old Shehu Yahaya for criticizing an illegal checkpoint erected by some police officers along Isa-Sabon Birni road in the state.
Yahaya, a father of two, on October 25 accosted some police officers while on an errand for his sister and made a comment about checkpoints that have been banned by President Muhammadu Buhari and the illegality of the one erected by the officers.
His comment, which did not go down well with the police officers, reportedly led them into trailing the vehicle he was in.
A fellow occupant of the vehicle and friend to the deceased, Bashar Nahantsi, while narrating what happened said after the deceased made the comment that angered the police, they trailed the vehicle in which they were commuting and ordered the driver to stop.
Nahantsi continued that, “The policemen ordered the two of us to come out of the vehicle, claiming that they suspected that we were on illegal drugs. We came down and they arrested us, but my late friend freed himself from their grip and ran away, leaving me with them. They stripped me and tied my hands from behind, using my vest. They asked if I had anyone who could stand for me. I said yes and called one of my elders. They did not see him, but they said I should not worry. They tied my hands and feet.
“Later, my friend who ran away came back. I was put under the custody of two mobile policemen under a tree. They asked me to lie low in the grass so they could arrest my friend. They arrested him, but he later escaped into a farm. He was chased by the two mobile policemen.
“By then, they had come back with my friend in an unconscious state and dumped him on the ground. At that time, he could not even sit properly. I had to support him with my feet before he could sit down.
“After collecting N1, 500, they ordered that I should carry my friend to where we could get a vehicle home. When I realised the condition they had subjected my friend to, I told them I couldn’t do anything.
“I managed to get away from them. It was two days after the encounter, while I was at a village that I got to know of my friend’s death. The police killed him.”
Also commenting on the incident, Yahaya’s father, Alhaji Shehu said “I was at Birnin Gwani when the incident happened on Sunday. I came back home on Tuesday to find out that my house was filled with people. Upon enquiry I was told that my son Yahaya had died. I asked if he was sick and the people told me that it was policemen who killed him at Teke market.”
The deceased father further disclosed that those who washed and dressed his son’s corpse said his neck was fractured and that he had bruises on it as though he was strangled.
“I have left everything to Allah, but I demand that justice be done,” he said.
The State Police Commissioner, Salisu Fagge who confirmed the incident, said the five policemen have been arrested in connection with the incident, adding that investigations into the matter has commenced.
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