The family members of a 21-year-old
Ghanaian, Etroo Mensah , are anxious about the whereabouts of their son
three months after he was arrested
along with some suspected thugs by a
police team, which raided Ikota, in the
Ajah area of Lagos. Etroo’s mother, Elizabeth Mensah, and his elder brother, Napoleon, had visited all police divisions in the Ajah
area for the young man, but were
told by the police that Etroo was not
in their custody. Punch Metro reports that the
fruitless search had thrown the
family into panic as the police
continued to deny that they arrested
Etroo. On Saturday, March 14, at about 6am,
Etroo, whose family hails from Elmina,
Central Region, Ghana, and lived in
Ikota, Ajah, had gone to buy
something from a shop on the street. Apolice patrol had raided the street
and arrested some street urchins
allegedly smoking hemp. Etroo was one of the people arrested
along with the suspected hemp
smokers. Etroo, who came to Lagos with his
brother, Napoleon, in February 2014,
had reportedly called his brother on
the phone, saying he was being
detained at the Ajah Police Division,
Ajiwe. The family, on getting to the station,
was reportedly told by the police
that although there was a police raid
on the street, Etroo was not among
the suspects arrested. Sadly, the family has not seen or
heard from the 21-year-old since
that time. Speaking with Punch Metro, 25-year-
old Napoleon, who works in a restaurant in Lekki, said the mother
was distraught, as the police had
refused to open up on the matter. He added that the father, who stays
in Takoradi, Ghana, had not been
briefed on the matter as the family
hoped that Etroo would be found. He said, “I was at work on that
Saturday. Etroo had gone to a shop
at about 6am. The police came to our
area in Ikota, Ajah, and arrested
some boys who were smoking hemp. “He was arrested along with the
smokers. The moment he got to the
police station, he called me on the
phone that he had been arrested and
was in Ajiwe. I was still speaking with
him when I overheard a policeman ordering him to bring the phone. “Both of us had stayed in Lagos for
only a year. I was not used to Lagos,
so I could not trace him to the police
station on the same day. On Sunday, a
friend, my mother and I went to the
station and we described Etroo to the policemen, requesting to see him.
They told us they did not have any
Mensah, adding that they had a
Mansah in their record, a name used
for a lady in our language.” The family was thereafter directed
to the Ikoyi Police Division, from
where they were redirected to the
command headquarters in Ikeja. Napoleon said the family was also
asked to go to police divisions in
Badagry to inquire about the matter.
He noted that since March 14, 2015,
the family had not seen or heard from Etroo. He said, “When we got to Ikoyi, we
were told that they never saw
anyone like my brother. They then
asked us to go to Ikeja. It was only
my mother who went to Ikeja. From
there, the police asked us to go to Badagry which we also did. We gave
them his name, his picture and some
money. Later, a policeman called us to
say they did not find him. “I think if the police arrest someone,
they have to let the person get
across to his family so that his people
can show up to see him. But since
March 14, we have not set eyes on
Etroo.” Etroo, who completed Junior
Secondary School in Ghana before
coming to Nigeria, is the fourth of five
children. The young man wanted to become a
musician. The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP
Kenneth Nwosu, said the police in Ajah
did not have a record of Etroo’s
arrest, adding that the family should
see the Divisional Police Officer.
www.sugardaily.ng/21-year-old-ghanaian-boy-missing-three-months-after-police-raided-a-street-in-ajah/
cc: lalasticlala

They've done it again!