Personnel of the Ogun State Police Command have been accused of beating a man, Seyi Oduyiga, to death over his refusal to bribe the officers.
The officers were said to have arrested the father of three over allegations of his involvement in cultism on 18th November, around 5:00pm.
Family members of the deceased claimed he went to charge his phone when the police picked him up alongside some other suspects.
The police reportedly took the suspects to Awolowo police station in Sagamu under the suspicion of cultism.
According to some sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, other suspects arrested by the police disclosed that the deceased was not a cultist.
Days after Seyi was taken into custody, the police informed his family members that he had died.
NIGERIACRIME gathered that several attempts to see him were rebuffed earlier by the officers.
The deceased sister, Mary Oduyiga, insisted that justice must be served.
She explained “We pleaded for his release but they did not release him. They released the other person arrested, stating that the other one would be released because he did not have tattoos on his body. Seyi was denied bail. He was arrested on Saturday evening, and we went back there on Sunday and were told that Inspector Raji was the IPO. They asked us to come back on Monday; the family representatives did not see the IPO on Monday; they said he had stepped out.
“Seyi was begging to be released since he had not coan offenseffensece. My brother who was there said the IPO threatened to ensure he made him suffer. The IPO threatened that he must be taken to Eleweran police headquarters and he was eventually taken there on Tuesday.
“I was living in Ibadan; I had to come to Abeokuta on Thursday evening over the matter. I went to Eleweran on Friday and took along foodstuffs; bread, malt, and bottled water. When I got there, I did not see the IPO; I was asked to wait for him. I got to Eleweran around 10:00 AM and could not see the IPO until 1:00 PM. When I first met him and told him I wanted to see my elder brother, Seyi, he said I should go out and wait until he was finished.
“When I brought the food to the officers and said I wanted to give my brother in the cell, they charged me N2,000, but I paid N1,000 to a policewoman.
“After some time, I lost my patience, went back to the policewoman, and pleaded to be allowed to see my brother, then she agreed and took us to the cells. Some inmates said he had been taken out since morning; we were later called upstairs to meet the Deputy Commissioner. We did not know he wanted to break the bad news to us; he then said, “Your boy was misbehaving in the cell overnight; he was biting the inmates, talking to himself; he was behaving like he had run mad. They took him to the hospital, and on getting to the hospital, he gave up. He just stopped breathing.”
The family is, however, insisting that their child must have been tortured to death for refusing to pay a N200,000 bribe the police had earlier requested.
Responding through a statement, the command’s spokesperson, SP Omolola Odutola, dismissed claims that the victim was tortured to death.
The police spokesperson also noted that both the deceased and one other suspect had earlier made a “confessional statement to being members of the outlawed Buccaneer and Eiye confraternity Secret cult. Seyi confessed he was initiated in 2015.
“The Ogun State Police Command vehemently refutes that the deceased was tortured to death as it is being speculated in some online media.
“Torture is strictly against our protocols and principles. Ogun state police command is well versed in the legal framework that safeguards the rights of individuals in custody, free from all forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.”
Odutola was, however, silent on the N200,000 bribe allegation.