Officials of the Special Anti Roberry Squad, SARS, led by Inspector Oladele Ojelabi has allegedly killed a young man, Seun Ayoade.
He reportedly died in a mysterious circumstance at the SARS detention facility in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
It was gathered that the officers arrested the deceased and others on Tuesday October 17, 2017 somewhere around Oke-Aro in Akure metropolis.
Already, wife of the deceased, Mrs Gbemisola Okoro, who is also a police officer, has accused the SARS officer, Ojelabi, of making constant love advances to her before he reportedly killed her husband.
The wife explained that her husband and Inspector Ojelabi were mutual friends.
Mrs Okoro, who was working at Fanibi Police Station, Akure before she was transferred to Osogbo, Osun State, said all efforts made to discourage Ojelabi from making love advances to her fell on deaf ears.
She narrated “But I use to tell him that I cannot have a relationship with him because I am married to his friend and with children.”
She narrated that a hairdresser identified as Ademilola was forcefully arrested in her shop around New Town, Oke-Aro, ordering her to lead her to the houses of the victims.
The hairdresser told newsmen that a woman allegedly led the officers to her shop in the evening of that fateful day around 5pm, and took her and a brother to their headquarters along Oda Road, Akure.
According to her, all entreaties to know her offence were abortive and the SARS also declined to allow her call her husband, insisting that she must follow them to their office.
“They commanded me to start mentioning the names of my mother’s children when we got to their station.
“As I mentioned Ayodeji, they shut me up that that was the person they were looking for,” she said.
The hairdresser led the officers to arrest Ayodeji, who took them to Seun, and the three siblings were kept in detention together with the deceased and some other people without telling them their offences.
“The SARS officers didn’t release me until 8am the following day but refused to release others.
“As I was trying to secure their release, I met Inspector Ojelabi who promised to help me and had sexual intercourse with me,” she lamented.
The step-father of the deceased, Mr. Femi Ajilo, disclosed that late Seun and Abayomi were with him at Igbara Odo, Ekiti State on the 15th of October 2017 for his church’s harvest.
“They left my place the following day only to hear that they had been arrested and put in detention the third day in Akure. I was mercilessly battered by the SARS when I got to the station to look for them.
“It was a superior officer who came to my rescue and saved me from the brutality of the officers; he put me in an office where I slept till the following day when I was released.
“They accused me of being the father of thieves because they alleged that Ayobami, Seun and others were armed robbers.”
Ajilo said he saw Abayomi the night he was detained though he didn’t see Seun because the officers did not give him opportunity to talk with the former, let alone asking for the latter.
“My sad experience with the SARS operatives made me to approach human right defenders in Akure to narrate my plights and that of those who were arrested,” he said.
The families of the deceased urged the state government and the Commissioner for Police, Mr. Olugbenga Adeyanju to wade into the matter and ensure that the culprits were brought to book.
One of the human right activists, Pasito Adewumi Owolabi, said the officers accused the deceased and his friends of armed robbery, saying a gang that was arrested for car-snatching and huge money theft named Seun Adetola as their leader.
Owolabi noted that the statement which the SARS officers attached to the deceased record at the mortuary stated that he was killed, with bullets wounds all over his body.
“But there was no bullet wound at all on his body, not even a scratch. We even investigated at Oshinle and Oke-Aro; the residents said there was no armed robbery incident in the areas for a very long time,” he said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident and said the commisonner had ordered a thorough investigation into the matter. Joseph, however, said it was a mere allegation against the security personnel, assuring that if the SARS officers were found guilty, they would be dealt with accordingly.
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