Mr. Femi Owolabi, a Journalist, Rights Advocate this morning took the open letter below to his facebook page saying it ought to be public… Read what he had to say and His Open letter

I a m on my way to the NPF Zonal Hq in Lagos and I thought I should make this letter public. I may not take it easy on them until I get results. Anything could happen, so be informed.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police,
Nigeria Police Force, Zone 2 Headquarters,
Onikan, Lagos

08/08/2016

UNLAWFUL ARREST, FALSE IMPLICATION AND ILLEGAL DETENTION OF LATEEF JAMIU AND EFEBELI LAWRENCE BY ARMED POLICEMEN FROM ZONE 2 (SARS OBADA)

This is to bring to the attention of your office the above subject matter for immediate investigation and further necessary action, should the claims be confirmed to be within the limit of law and fundamental human rights.

At about 1300hr on Friday 5th August, 2016, four armed policemen stormed [a gated] Anuoluwapo Street in Odi-Olowo LCDA of Lagos State. According to eyewitnesses, the armed policemen who were in black t-shirts with “POLICE” imprint arrived in a “jeep” and “sienna space bus.” It was gathered that the policemen were led in by a masked man, a possible informant, who was seen pointing to a particular house where it’s believed that some suspected criminals do stay.

The policemen broke into one of the rooms and picked 30 years old Mr Efebeli Lawrence, who at the time was sleeping. According to Efebeli’s elder brother, Francis– who was inside the room– the policemen grabbed his brother when the masked man pointed at him saying, “that’s him.” Mr Efebeli, who is into catering services, suffered the humiliation as he wasn’t even allowed to put on his clothes before he was handcuffed and dragged out. “I have to beg them (policemen) to allow him put on his boxers at least,” Francis explained.

Upon entering the Street, 30 years old Mr Lateef Jamiu (popularly known in the neighbourhood as Oba Aanu) who owns a video-rental service shop by the gate had been picked. Mr Jamiu, like many other small-scale business owners in the Street, do sleep over the night inside their shops, and on this night, he had come outside of his shop to sleep at his neighbour’s, a spacious salon.

“Lateef always sleep here with me because there’s not enough space in his own shop,” Mr Jimoh (popularly known as Pa Jimmy), the salon owner, said. “It was getting cold and he got up, went outside to his own shop to get a cover-cloth and that was how the policemen picked him,” Pa Jimmy added.

Pa Jimmy further explained that the policemen came with Mr. Jamiu inside the salon where they met him and his friend, Mr Tajudeen, sleeping. “They woke us, searched everywhere inside the shop, and seeing nothing implicating, they took Lateef away,” he said.

It was gathered, however, that the policemen claimed to have found a gun in an abandoned apartment close to Mr Efebeli’s. Place.

Mr Jamiu and Mr Efebeli were handcuffed together and driven off. “Meet us in Zone 2,” was the only message they left for Mr Tajudeen who made an attempt to plead with the policemen.

Since the incident happened, more than 70 hours now, families of the two subjects have been moving from one police station to the other after they were told at Zone 2 that no such operation was carried out by them.

After a rigorous but fruitless search of their sons, on Sunday, 7th August, 2016, the families reported at the Police Control Room in Lagos where the O/C radioed all the divisional police stations in Lagos to check for detainees bearing those names and none of the stations has given a positive feedback.

Further investigations, however, have revealed that Messrs Jamiu and Efebeli are being held at a Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, police division in Obada area in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
“The Obada SARS was created few weeks ago, and they are probably hunting for ‘customers,'” a source disclosed.

In the light of the above, and since the Obada SARS, Ogun State operates under this zonal command, we, therefore, demand the following:
1. Immediate inquiry into why the subjects have been detained for days without allowing them get in touch with their family members/lawyers so they could know the state of things and especially where they are being held.

2. Immediate call on the O/C SARS, Obada, to transfer the subjects back to Lagos for a full scale investigation of their alleged crimes.

3. Immediate re-orientation of men and officers of SARS, Obada in line with global best practices of policing.

Find attached, photographs of the subjects.

Femi Owolabi, Journalist, Rights Advocate
(For the families)

Cc: Complaints Response Unit, CRU, Force HQ, Abuja