Olakekan Akindoju, a journalist with Rave FM and Western Spring Television was arrested by policemen from the Prompt Response Unit of the Osun State Police Command on Thursday without any offence. Akindoju, who is the Secretary, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Osun State Council, told THE POINT’s TIMOTHY AGBOR in this interview how the policemen threatened him with guns after scaling the fence of his apartment to arrest him and another neighbour.
How did the arrest happen?
I was in my apartment around Adetunji Estate in Osogbo, I was sleeping and I started hearing noises in my compound. Some persons came into the compound and were banging on the door of my apartment.
So, as I was hearing those noises, I had to come out, I opened the door and I saw that they were police officers. They came into my compound after jumping through the fence. They were armed to the teeth with guns. The first question I asked them was what were they doing in my apartment? They said that I needed to follow them and I told them that I couldn’t and that there has to be a reason. The first thing I did was to pick my I.D card and I showed them that I am a journalist and that I work with Rave FM. As I was explaining to them, one of them seized it and put it in his pocket.
Another policeman also seized my phone and prevented me from making calls. They insisted I must go with them. One of them allowed me to wear my shirt and I followed them. They also picked up a guy in the next apartment, he has a wife and a child and we were both handcuffed and dragged into a white colour Sienna bus. I still feel pains in my wrist owing to the long hours that I wore the handcuffs.
We were taken to the Police State Headquarters. There is a Unit there called Prompt Response Unit. The officers came from there. In the cause of them taking me, I was able to pass a message across to someone so that they would know where to find me. But, eventually, it took about five hours before I was located where I was kept. Nobody knew the exact place I was. There were pressure from so many people.
Everybody was trying to find me. I was told that they started checking cells at the State CID and they couldn’t find me up until somebody described the particular vehicle that came to pick me. It was through that means they were able to discover that it was a Unit in the Osun State Police Force that came to pick me.
I was asking them what crime did I commit, they said it was a “serious issue”, I said “serious issue” is not a crime. There has to be something. But, after several hours, they (Police officers who carried out the arrest) started claiming that there was a robbery in my area last week and it was because some persons pointed to them that some of the people who came to rob ran into our compound last week. As far as I am concerned, I still do not know what robbery took place and nobody in my area mentioned any robbery.
How were you eventually released?
After a while and due to the intervention of those who came, the CP, Ibrahim Gotan told the police officers I had to go and ordered them to release me. But I was forced to write a statement. They told me I had to explain to them the people living in my compound, the kind of people they are and how many they are. I had to write a statement and my CEO had to fill a bail bond. Though we didn’t pay. But, eventually, the other guy that was picked up, he was released last night and he told me that they collected N77,000 from him before he could regain his freedom.
But, these are people sleeping in their houses without any crime. The fact that I identified myself and told them who I was, I was surprised to find out that i was still put in handcuffs and embarrassed. The pain I still feel is that those who live in my area and saw me being dragged with handcuffs would think – so this guy who claims he is a journalist is probably doing something else.
What motivated you into opening your door when they came banging?
After I looked through my window, I discovered that the five officers who came to my compound were wearing police uniform. Only one of them had a name tag Sunday, I can’t remember the other name. So, I decided to open my door to know what they seek and how I could be of help to them. When they came in, they asked me to go with them and because I told them I would not go with them, they pulled out guns. So, that was when I felt there was no point arguing, because if I did, they could have done something worse than what happened that yesterday.
How does the unwarranted arrest make you feel?
The trauma is still there. I feel really disturbed because you can’t just go into somebody’s house at that early hour. If there was a cause, there are ways to do investigation. If there was somebody you were looking for truly, you have to ensure you do your proper investigation to know who exactly or what apartment exactly you are going to find the person you are looking for.
At first, I thought their presence in my compound was linked to my job. As soon as I saw them, the first thing that came to my mind was that was there any story I wrote probably days back that is making somebody knock on my door. I still dispute the reason they gave to this day – about the alleged robbery because there was sno robbery in my area.
It took time before they could even tell me that they were looking for some robbery suspects. They came unruly and they were not ethical in their conducts. God forbid, I could have lost my life in that encounter because the officers were highly unruly and uncivilized in their conducts.
What are your demands?
I want the Osun State Police Command to apologise publicly and clear the air to say that what happened was truly a mistake.
Also, it is important their men are trained. If they are trained, they will know what to do. One thing I noticed is that many of personnel in the police are not educated. That is also a challenge because if they are refined at that level, there is a level with which they will be able to speak and probably tell you what they are in your apartment for.
Then, the idea of jumping through the fence in the early hours of the day is risky. What if we had somebody in the compound who had a licensed gun?
Though the Commissioner of Police mentioned that it was probably a mistake but that is not enough. They forced me to write a statement. I wasn’t interested in writing a statement because I didn’t commit a crime. So, doing that would probably mean where was something I did. So, I feel that should also be taken out of their records.
#THE POINT’s
