Friday, July 13, will remain etched on the mind of 33 year-old Tanimu Labaran, a native of Kano. The Abuja-based driver, who had worked with a legislator who had an encounter with soldiers, one of whom was his friend, and detained for three weeks

You had an encounter with security agents. Tell us how it happened.

What happened to me was an unfortunate incident. There were some tea sellers around Durumi area where I go to take tea. So I was there when some fracas broke out. Some boys came and chased everyone away from the place.

We had no idea what was happening so we fled and left our shoes behind. Later on, we came back for our shoes and heard that the tea seller and the boys were not on good terms and that was why the boys attacked the place. So we suggested they report the issue to the police. When a report was made . . .


These boys you refer to, who were they?

They are some construction workers who sit by the roadside waiting for someone to hire them and they had a problem with the tea seller.

So we went and reported to the police and when we returned, some of the boys working with the tea sellers brought out weapons the assailants had left behind. When I saw this, I ceased the knife from the boy and we went to look for the person who started the fight but we didn’t find him.

So we came back and I took the weapon to my house. The next day, the construction workers heard that the issue had been reported to the police so they met and discussed and came to compensate the tea seller for the damages done. They paid him N10,000.


So what happened next?

So they asked me about their knife which I had taken to my house and I told them I will give it back to them. So I had gone to bring the weapon and was returning when I met a friend of mine, who is a military policeman. His name is Madaki. He saw me with the knife. He was standing with some seven other men, including a dismissed soldier. This was around Apo, under the bridge. So he just came and without a word struck me on the face.


Who struck you on the face?

Madaki.


The one you said is your friend?

I no longer consider him a friend because of what he did to me. A friend will not treat his friend in such a manner. So he struck me on the face and all the others joined in and started beating me up, saying they suspect me of being Kabiru Sokoto.


Was there some misunderstanding between you before then?

There was nothing. They beat me up and handcuffed me and continued beating me to the extent that I wasn’t hearing quite clearly with one of my ears. They were still beating me when a patrol team from Yakubu Gowon Barracks drove by and they asked what was happening. He told them he was a soldier and they asked him to identify himself. He showed them his ID card and then told them that I am Kabiru Sokoto and that he caught me with a weapon and showed them the knife. So they took me away . . .


So where did they take you away to?

They took me to the area around Protea Hotel, Asokoro and set me down. They removed my shirt and covered my face with it and asked me to say my last prayer.

Then they dragged me into some bush, I don’t quite know where exactly since my face was covered, and they asked me to tell them the truth of what had happened. I told them the truth and maintained it. They eventually took me to Gowon Barracks around 1a.m. and took me to the guardroom.

They kept me there until daybreak. Then Madaki came and asked for me to be presented to him. Two Staff Sergeants interrogated me and I told them what had happened. They said I was lying and striped me and beat me and gave me these scars on my back.


What did they use to beat you?

They used horsewhips and flogged me. Thereafter, they took me back to the guardroom and left me there for three weeks. Then the OC transferred my case and they took me to the SSS. There, I gave them my statement and they took me to the Commissioner of Police of the FCT. When he read my file, he said he will not take on the case . . .


You mean the CP himself?

Yes, the CP himself. He said it is not the military’s jurisdiction to arrest an individual and detain him for three weeks without handing him over to the police for due investigation and prosecution. So he told the SSS to go away with me.


Do you know on what day you were taken to the CP?

I was taken to the CP on . . . I can’t quite recall the date.


But you remember the date you were first detained?

I was held on Friday July 13.


And this friend of yours, Madaki, do you know his full name?

Yes. There was a soldier I spoke to while in the guardroom and when I told him what happened he said his full name is Suleman Madaki.


Do you have his number, his army number?

No, I don’t. I don’t.


So what happened thereafter?

From the CP, I was taken back to the SSS office and I took ill there. They took me to the hospital.


Which hospital were you taken to?

I don’t know but it was their [the SSS] hospital. I was so ill I didn’t quite know where I was. It was within their quarters, I think somewhere around City Gate.

They took me there and bought the needed drugs and food for me and then they brought me back and asked me to call anyone I know to come and secure my release. I called a friend of mine, the son of an Honourable member at the National Assembly Quarters.

He came and signed for me and they said he was responsible for me and asked me to return on a particular date, on a Wednesday, I went and they asked me to report back on a Monday. They have asked me to go back twice now.


Have you gone back? What happened when you went back?

I did, they just asked me how my area is now and I told them there was no problem. They were just asking questions and I answered them. I was there for two hours. And then they asked me to return on Tuesday, August 14.


And you have not been taken to court yet?

I have not been taken to court.


And you were the only person there, all through your stay in detention?

No, at the guardroom, they brought some 15 other people from Zamfara, they were riding their motorcycles to Masaka to work and they were arrested in front of the barracks and put in a cell.

Eleven of them had motorcycles; the others are water vendors and pure water sellers. So they were detained and after five days in detention, the OC came, he was a Captain, and asked for them to be brought out. He flogged them and drove them away without releasing their motorcycles to them. So the 11 motorcycles were left at the barracks.


Why were they flogged, do you know?

Nothing. They did nothing. The soldiers asked why were they driving fast in the night.


Have you met Madaki since your release?

Yes, I went to him one Friday night. He had told me there is a tailor he has who would sew some cloth for me so I had given him my brocade to give to the tailor. So when I was detained, my brocade was still with him. After my release, after I had reported to the SSS, I went by his office and saw many soldiers there. They asked me who I was looking for and I told them. When I saw him, he shook my hand and told me he was sorry, that he regretted what happened.

He asked me what was the situation then and I told him I had just returned from the SSS office and had come to collect my brocade. He told me he had already given it to the tailor and that he would get it back. Even on Thursday, [August 9th] he called me to apologise and asked me to let the issue pass.

fellawales: How they catch lion in Nigeria; catch a cat and beat it till it confess it is a Lion. God bless Nigeria.

But I think there Is something more to dat story.

13volts: I guess shirk Gummi was right, the army are fighting innocent people instead of Boko Haram

Beetwo: Plz, can anyone confirm if he is d same kabiru sokoto dey claimed dey arrested in stack of clothes. Abi na which kabiru sokoto hin be again?

mahel: Dis story get fish inside!.. Y carry d knife 2 ur house in d 1st place?.. Such unfortunate do realy happen but i feel dis guy jist is nt just complete!

Basic: How can a nation prosper when innocent ones are unduly punished? How can a nation prosper when the weak are being brutalised? Anybody could've been in this poor man's shoes. So tell me, where's the security in this country? Security itself has gone in search of safety
For reasons like this, I wish I were not Nigerian...

13volts: I guess shirk Gummi was right, the army are fighting innocent people instead of Boko Haram

teminoni: This is unjust and inhumane. I blame this on the leaders in the army. They just recruit senseless illiterates into the army and unleash them on our roads with uniforms and guns to terrorize innocent civilians.

This isn't the first time we are hearing about army men acting so stupidly and unjust.

Just like baba Fela called them, they are Zombies that just follow orders blindly. And without orders, they act according to their low IQ and irrational mentality.

Ozedy: See, the northern leaders are at work again. They have been able to remove the NSA FROM the south to the north now it is the time of Army chief. See majority of us here don't actually know what Nigeria is all about. This is how they would cook everything up then, they will conclude that the chief of army staff is not competent. I pray God should give GEJ a designment spirit for him to understand this game plan. Believe me or not the game plan is as a result of the statement credited to Asari Tocubo where he said, "when Nigeria go to war, the army will not be there to defend the north". The north is not the taking the threat lightly, hence this game plan. Pls understand before comments.