The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu has allegedly detained twenty-four job applicants in a police cell at the force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja, a human rights activist Mr. Mahdi Shehu has revealed.
According to Mr. Shehu, the lives of the detainee are in clear and imminent danger as they are being held under squalid conditions without access to family members for over six months.
In a social media video of 30 minutes, Mr. Shehu who says he is a non-commercial whistleblower said his conscience would not allow him to rest until he exposed the grave injustice that was being done to the young jobseekers by authorities of the Nigeria Police Force.
Narrating the ugly incident, the rights activist said, “A very sad story of twenty-four young men, all of them below the age of twenty-seven who have been under incarceration and detention for the last six months at the Force CID detention centre at Area 10 in Abuja.”
Mr. Shehu revealed that he happened on the incident when he was being unjustly incarcerated by the Nigeria Police chief who was acting on the orders of the Katsina State governor, Mr. Aminu Masari.
“I came across them when I was wickedly and unlawfully and deliberately arrested and detained against all existing laws in Nigeria for eleven days on the command and instruction of IGP, Mr. Mohammed Adamu of the Nigeria Police on account of a complaint written by the Katsina State government against me, in which I was assumed to be guilty before I was arrested.
“When I was detained in that cell, I perceived an odour within the compartmentalized cell. So, I took it upon myself to go round in spite of my circumstances, and I came across 24 young men; 17 Christians, 7 Muslims packed in one cell, sleeping on the floor and smelling all over, incarcerated, no voice, no support. They were only surviving by the grace of God.
“The following morning, I took it upon myself to assume that I have no injury, and I must take steps to heal their own injuries,” Mr. Shehu said.
He disclosed the names of the detainees to include: Mohammed Madu 25 from Chibok, Borno State; Wukade Yusuf, 28 from Borno; Umar Ali 24 Kano; Mohammed Musa 23 Borno; Dahiru Ahmed 25 Borno; Usman Adamu 26 Borno, Jamila Mohammed 22 Katsina State; Usman Abubakar 24 Kano among others.
Speaking why the job applicants are being held, the whistleblower said, “I interview these young men. In the first place, when the Federal Government wanted to complement the shortfall in the Nigeria police force, they advertised for people to apply for the Nigeria police force constables. These young men said they applied because they met all the criteria for the application.
“Subsequently, they received invitation that they were to attend the entrance examination. They attended the exams in various police commands across the country; they were invited to police training college in Maiduguri. They arrived on the 20 October, 2019, and they were informed by Inspector Yerima Augustine that they have responded and have been invited as per the invitation that they submitted, but that he was sorry to inform them that people from their own states over-applied, therefore, their names were on the reserve list. That they should go and come back in three days, to whether other people from their own states have not reported, and then they would replace them.
“After three days, on October 23, 2019, they were informed by the same Inspector Yerima Augustine that states they come from have over-applied, and that if they are still interested in joining the force, there are other states where most candidates had not turned up. And that they should go home and bring along with them the sum of N700, 000 each if they are interested.
“These young men are jobless; they went back to their respective states as far as Taraba, Borno, Yobe, to go and get the money.
“One of these men said, three of his sisters were to get married and for the last five years, they have been saving money to get them married out, but their mother weighed the pros and the cons and she gave him N700, 000 from those marriages that have not taken place. And another of the applicant said his father sold three of his farm and sold eight of his cows to raise N700, 000. Another said his father divided his house into two, sold half and raised the money. In any event, they all returned with the money; which was called a levy, and they handed that money to admin officer DSP Iliya Kija at Police Training College in Maidugiri.
“However, one Philip John who could not give cash; transferred the sum of N500, 000 into the personal bank account of DSP Iliya Kija. We have the evidence of the teller with which the money was paid.
“Also, Karlos James also transferred the sum of N700, 000 into Sgt John Monday’s personal account. The evidence of the transfer is also available. Twenty-two other applicants gave their money in cash to DSP Iliya Kija.
“Having paid that money, 24 of them they were informed to resume the following day 28 October, 2019, for training and bring along with them all the originals of their credentials. On arrival, all their files containing their credentials were handed over and collected by Inspector Yerima Augustine.
“On November 4, 2019, they were issued with serial number which is called service numbers, and were told that the service numbers would be their identity henceforth, not their own names. On 28 October 2019 to 24 July, 2020, (six months) they received extensive training; physical, mental, arms training, arms dismantling and arms reassembling. They went for shootings endless times. Three months into the training, they were called upon and informed that an IGP team would come to the training college to audit the trainees, and that they were going to be given new names which must use and adopt in the event of being asked, but that after the IGP team has gone back, they would go back to their original names.”
Mr. Shehu lamented that, “These young men were deceived, cajoled and initiated into giving out money because they needed they job. They never knew the jobs were meant for other people. They have not been taken to court and they have not been granted bail.”
“The governor along with Senator Kabiru Gaya wrote a petition to the IGP; complaining that 24 slots meant for Kano State as entrance into the Nigeria police force had been sold by officials of the Maidugiri police command.
“The IGP endorsed the petition for investigation. Between 1 July and 5 July, 2020, all of these 24 young me were arrested for 18 days in different cells under Kano police command. They narrated to me that in those 18 days, they had not taken their bathe for the day; they were packed in one cell; they were urinating and excreting that same cell using polythene bags and they were fed only once in a day, there was total restriction of their relations from coming to visit them.
“On 25 July, all of th3 24 young men were transferred to the Force CID headquarters in Area 10, Abuja, where I was also detained, where I met them for the first time. Since 25 of July, up till now, December 8, 2020, these 24 young men are still under lock and key, no visitors, no sanitation, no food. They are left to chances. They are being infested by maggots and lies all over their bodies. Some of them if care is not taken will have mental derailment. They are already completely demoralized! They have lost focus and all of them told me that if this is Nigeria, they have lost hope in Nigeria. They are currently in police cell.
“What will amaze you is that they were arrested by Interpol and kept in the cell by Interpol and ASP Dahiru has been threatening them that he would ensure that they are all executed.”
Thenigerialawyer
