Posted by By CHRIS ANUCHA on
Poised to ensure that innocent citizens do not languish in police cell unnecessarily, the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar on Wednesday paid a surprise visit to Oworonshoki police station, where he released nine persons suspected to have been detained illegally.
•Orders arrest of ASP, others, over torture
Poised to ensure that innocent citizens do not languish in police cell unnecessarily, the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar on Wednesday paid a surprise visit to Oworonshoki police station, where he released nine persons suspected to have been detained illegally.
Also, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Police Inspector and a Constable are being interrogated at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, on the order of the CP for torturing a man at the same police station.
It has been the practice of the police boss to pay surprise visits to all the formations under his command to keep himself abreast of first hand information about what happens in those formations.
Infact, it would take providence and favourable outcome of on-going investigation to make the three cops remain in the police as Abubakar has vowed to show the indicted ones the way out.
The CP, who arrived the Oworonshoki police station at 8.30 a.m was said to been shocked when the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) and other senior police officers were yet to report for duty.
Daily Sun, however, gathered that the DPO was in the office till 5.00 a.m and had gone home to have a short rest, before coming back to the station.
To the surprise of policemen who were on duty, the CP requested to be taken to the cell, an order which was immediately complied with.
To his shock, Abubakar discovered that some people were illegally detained after a raid by police men from station the previous day.
His findings further revealed that some of them had identity cards and other documents that could exonerate them from constituting security risk but the policemen that arrested them turned deaf ears to their pleas of innocence and were crammed into the cell.
After securing the release of the victims and was about leaving the station, Daily Sun gathered that the CP sighted a man whose shirt was thorn to shreds with signs of tortured and beckoned on him to find out what went wrong.
The man was said to have narrated to the CP how he came to make inquiries about condition for the release of some one detained at the station and was man-handled by policemen, after the senior police officer ordered that he should be dealt with.
Confirming this to Daily Sun, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Olubode Ojajuni said the policemen had ordered the men out of the station, leading to disagreement between him and the policemen.
He said it was at that point that the ASP instructed his subordinate to torture the man.
He said the CP, who was not impressed by the attitude of his men immediately invited the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in-charge of SCID to arrest the men for further investigations, after which the law would be applied.
Meanwhile, the CP said he would soon set up a team to monitor the monitoring team, which had been responsible for the arrest of corrupt policemen. He told Daily Sun that this would help to reduce corruption in the police.