Akin Okunowo, a graduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, IT Professional and a Publisher narrated his experience to News-Portal Nigeria on how he was set up, unlawfully arrested and tortured by CP Mbu J. Mbu. Excerpt:
On July 22, 2014, I traveled from Lagos to Abuja from 8am to 10pm by road. I was invited by the Personal Assistant (P.A.) to the Commissioner of Police, FCT Police Command, for an urgent assignment. I have been the consultant for CP Mbu Joseph Mbu on media, private investigation and reputation management since when he was the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State before he was
transferred to FCT. So, I did not suspect that the invitation was a trap that the Commissioner himself had set for me. I thought it was business as usual.
On arrival at the Jabi Park in Abuja around 10pm that Tuesday, I called his P.A. to come and pick me up as we had earlier arranged before I started coming to Abuja. I was with two of my bags, one containing my cloths and the other my laptop and documents. I called my wife that I have arrived Abuja safely and waiting for the P.A. to come and pick me. I promised to talk further with my wife when the P.A. must have taken me to my last destination. Immediately the P.A. arrived, I put my cloth bag inside the booth of his car, then suddenly, somebody from nowhere grabbed me from behind saying "I catch you!" The P.A. pretended like he did not know them and asked me where did I know the two strangers from. They two identified themselves as policemen, although they were not in uniform. They said they have been tailing me for a long time and have come to arrest me. I asked what was my offence but they refused to tell me saying that I must follow them to their police station first.
The P.A. used his own car to drive us down to Utako Police Station since the two policemen did not come with any vehicle. Meanwhile, those police came from the spot where the P.A.'s car first stopped before coming to the spot I was. Ordinarily, I was very observant because I arrived Abuja in the night and I know that the nature of my work being crime fighting and discourages terrorism in the country require me to be very vigilant. So, when the P.A. phoned me that he has gotten to the park and I told him where I was standing, I was looking out in the directions that lead to the spot I was. I discovered his vehicle coming from the back instead of from the front, and the two strange policemen also came from the same unusual direction, although I did not suspect that it was a set-up at all since I thought he was a trusted person.
On getting to the Utako Police Station, they took me straight into one dark room and threatened to torture me. The P.A. came in pretending like a saint saying that they should not torture me but allow me to state my offence. I told them they were the one who should to tell me what my offence was. Then they said that I used the name of CP Mbu to defraud somebody on facbook website. When I asked further, they refused to tell me who the person was, when and how much was involved. They forced me to write statement that it was CP Mbu himself that ordered my arrest, interrogation and prosecution. I told them that internet fraud cannot be a hearsay allegation that they need to show me their proof. Suddenly, the P.A. said he called CP Mbu at that moment and he instructed them to transfer me to Garki Police Station that night - it was around 11:20 pm.
When my wife tried my phone that night and could not reach me. Before leaving Lagos, I had given her the phone number of the P.A. because it has been her attitude to always demand me giving her the phone number of whoever I am travelling to meet. In case she could not reach my phone, she would call the person. She called the P.A. but the P.A. lied to her that he did not see me and did not hear from me. I cannot imagine a Muslim like the CP's P.A. fasting during the Ramadan telling such a terrible lie. He lied that he did not hear from me at all. My wife called different people that she knows I work with in CP Mbu's office but everybody said they did not hear from me at all. She became very worried and restless. She called Champ Bash Ali too and everybody became very worried.
When I got into the cell, I met people who had been detained for several months, and some for several weeks, without trial or allowed bail. One person out of them told me that he had lost contact with his family. When I told them how I got into the cell upon their request, he advised me to find every means to communicate with my family within the next few hours before my abductors move me away from Garki to unknown place. He said my people would ended up not knowing where I was for long since my family were in Lagos. He also warned me that it might be a kidnap to kill me under the pretext of transferring me to another police station or cell. That was how I realized that I had to find a means of communicating with my people as soon as possible. Fortunately, I knew the phone number of my wife off-hand.
The police do arrest innocent people on the streets using the excuse of late hour and detain some of them in the cell in order to extort money from them. They called it 'raiding'. Most of these victims do not spend long in the cell except those that refused to cooperate by refusing to pay bribe. And some of those who did not cooperate were later charged for not having anybody to come and identify and bail them, or they also find one fictitious offence against them, even though the police are very sure that they were innocent. So, one of these innocent people who was ready to bailed himself that midnight memorized the phone number of my wife and was fortunately to call my wife immediately he go out that I was detained in Garki Police Station. So, my wife called the P.A. again and told him how she had collected his phone number from me before I traveled and how I spoke with her while I was waiting for him to come and pick me at Jabi park. At this point, he admitted that he met me at the park and I have been arrested and detained at at Garki Police Station. He said that I defrauded somebody using the facebook page I managed for CP Mbu to perpetuate the crime. My wife told him that I can never scam anybody that she trust me very much on that. He told my wife that they already had all the evidence that proved how I scammed the victim in their hand and CP Mbu had decided to prosecute and send me to jail.
My wife called my colleagues in Mbu's office that she had their phone numbers but they threatened my wife that she had been spending the money defrauded from the victim with me and it was good for her to bring the remaining amount we have spent out of the money to Abuja. She told them that I cannot do all what they have alleged me, but they did not believed her. My wife called Champ Bash Ali and told him what happened.
On July 24, 2014, my case was transferred to the FCT Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for investigation. The investigation team asked me to open my facebook, email and other social network I used and were searching my private messages and comments for anything that is implicating but did not find anything. It was in the cause of their investigation that I realized that there was no formal complaint against me at all than hearsay evidence. When the FCT SARS team were confused, they requested from their Admin Officer, one ASP Hassimi Hussani, who was assigned by the CP as IPO for the case that what exactly are they to investigate because they have searched my internet and laptop for hours and found nothing incriminating. He told them to wait that one Corporal Abraham Omu was bringing what they were going to investigate about me. Champ Bash Ali on getting to Garki Police Station was directed to the FCT SARS, and fortunately he met me there.
The secretary to the CP, Corporal Abraham Omu, later came and verbally complained against me saying that I have been defrauding many people for a long time using the name of CP Mbu. He told the FCT SARS to force me to password my facebook account again for him to search and prove I was a criminal. He claimed that the victim was one of my friend on facebook. He searched through my own personal facebook account but did not see it on my friends' list. He searched the likes on the CP's facebook page that I managed and still could not find the victim on the list. He then concluded in his allegation that I had deleted the victim from the list of my friends and the likes on the CP's page. He searched through my messages too and concluded again that I had deleted the conversation between me and the victim. He said that he knows me as a hardened and clever internet criminal. He told me that I know that he is the secretary to the CP and he had instructed me a week before I was arrested to delete the CP facebook page that I managed from the internet but I did not complied with his directive.
May God save us from false accusers who will talk as if they were there when you were committing the crime they lied against you. When he could not find anything on my facebook, he threatened me that I will regret ever playing with his intelligence because he is the secretary to the CP and more knowledgeable than I do. He also condemned me on why I have refused to delete the page I managed for the CP from the internet as he has instructed me a week before my arrest. I told him he was just a corporal and it was the CP that gave me the go ahead to create the page in the first place and I would not receive an instruction from him (a corporal) to delete such page where the good image of the CP is projected to the world. It was at that spot that I realized that there was a sort of conspiracy against me as well. He thought I would have deleted the page and it would have been easy for them to claim a lot of lies against me. He was very disappointed and both me and the FCT SARS people became very observant for him not to delete the page when he opened it on my facebook and searching for nothing. When the SARS team investigating the case asked him to provide the official statement of the complainant against me, he said that the complainant is yet to make any statement at all. I was shocked. He said that the complainant is still far away at the CP's village in Cross Rivers State and cannot be reached by phone because there was no network in the area. So, in the absence of the complain of the the victim, Cpl. Abraham Omu's verbal claim against me was taken in replacement of the complainant's statement or petition.
I told him that if the complainant claimed he connected with me through the internet, why is it impossible to reach him on phone. Is he not using the same mobile network system to browse the internet to make phone call? And how was he able to inform you all the way from Cross Rivers in the first place that I defrauded him if not by phone? Cpl. Abraham Omu told me that the CP would not hurry the complainant down to Abuja to make statement because the CP's village is very far. I was further disappointed that CP Mbu could hurry me down from Lagos to be detained without any complaint against me. Abraham Omu said that the investigation into my crime could take a decade. Meaning that I would be detained until the complainant make a formal report and the were able to conclude that I was innocent. I knew from that instant that they have merely conspired to use my unlawful arrest and detention to terrorize me for no just reason. So, my laptop was shot down and detained as an exhibit. Again the SARS Admin Officer, who was my Investigation Police Officer (IPO), invited me to his office and asked me to password my laptop for him, sign into my facebook account and be taken away to be detained. I told him I would not do that because they could plant anything behind my back. My facebook account is a private environment and they have no right what so ever to intimidate me to such level of trying to perfect their conspiracy. I advised him to invite the complainant from wherever he is to sign into his own facebook account and they should check his chat with the person that defrauded him and click on the profile page of the person for their further investigation.
So, I was returned back to the cell, and this time, ASP Hassimi Hussani signed a police detention order, claiming that I should be detained for "impersonation and extortion." It was at this instance that they formally registered my detention at the Garki Police Station, which was not done before. I felt very sad that the police were yet to have any complaint against me and yet detained me under cruel condition thinking as further torture to make me admit to an offence I did not commit. They were acting wrongly on mere hearsay evidence by Cpl. Abraham Omu and selfish interest of ASP Hassimi Hussani.
Since July 24, 2014, I was left in the cell until August 6, 2014, before they came to take me back to the FCT SARS for further investigation. This time, their story have changed. They said that they were no longer investigating me but needed my cooperation as an IT expert to track down the culprit. They said they have discovered that I was not responsible for the fraud that it was a mistake. They said that they discovered that I am very knowledgeable about the internet and I would be of help to their investigation. They had finally gotten statement from the victim and discovered that it was not the facebook page that I manage for CP Mbu that was used, that it was a fake facebook account by one scammer whom they have discovered his phone number, email and bank account which were used in perpetuating the crime.
Champ Bash Ali and a human right lawyer whom Champ Bash Ali involved came to meet us there that day and the FCT SARS also informed them of the same new development. The lawyer told them that I am a family man and my family had been worried since I was forcefully detained for no offence. He said that it was not ideal for the police to continue to detain me after realizing that I had no connection with the allegation against me. He emphasized that keeping me in police cell and detention under such bad condition is not a good method of making me provide IT services for them to track down the criminal. They were supposed to pay for my services and not oppress me to forcefully engage my services. But the police did not listen to him. However, I guided the FCT SARS on how to connect with the management of the facebook website to provide the police with useful information about the account user and the conversation between the scammer and the victim. I also reported to the facebook management that the FCT SARS were law enforcers who were trying to fight crime on their social network which will also benefit the subscribers and users of the network. After that the FCT SARS contacted the CP through his secretary, Cpl. Abraham Omu, that they needed to take me to the hospital for treatment but CP Mbu refused to respond. So, the SARS bought paracetamol and vitamin C tablets for me. They told me to manage with these two drugs until CP Mbu allowed them to take me to the hospital for treatment. So, I was returned back into the cell in my sick condition.
Overnight, my health became worse and I was vomiting seriously. The next morning, the IG monitoring team that came to the station upon seeing my poor health condition had to take note of names and IPOs of all those who were sick inside the cells. Still I did not see treatment that day. The following day around 6pm, which was August 8, 2014, the FCT SARS came again for me and took me to their office and I was released on bail around 10.30 pm to Champ Bash Ali. I was required to report to the SARS office 10am the following day which was a Saturday.
On August 9, I was still unable to receive good treatment because I had to report to the SARS with Bash Ali and the lawyer by 10am. We were there till 2pm before the 2ic of the SARS Admin Officer, one DSP, called his men on phone and said that he was in his house and would call us later to come when he is available. I could not just imagine the arrant nonsense of wasting my precious time, resources and frustrating me further to worsen my health when I was supposed to return back home for proper treatment and rest. It was obvious to me that the wicked treatment I was receiving from the police was a deliberate act through the abuse of power by CP Mbu. It was clear to me that the offence which was a fraud of N52,500 was not the only basis of my unlawful detention and torture. It was very clear to me as well that CP Mbu had an ulterior motive behind his actions against me and I have no other choice at this juncture than to seek all avenue to save my life.
To set the record straight, rendering any service for anybody, whether CP Mbu or the FCT SARS is not by force. You cannot violate my fundamental human rights and continue to oppress me and destroy my good health for nothing sake. It is wrong and unfair for anybody in such position of a Commissioner of Police to deliberately misuse power believing that since his victim is a poor man then he can always get away with it. Despite all efforts by the Federal Government to make the security of our society improve better, the FCT Police Command is now exposed to me for doing the opposite under the leadership of CP Mbu. Even though some people claimed that the concerned authorities have agenda behind making anybody a police chief without considering the competence and professionalism of that person, I know that CP Mbu is not God. He is not my God and can never be my own God. He cannot dictate my life no matter how much he is favoured or placed by the authorities without considering his competence.
It has become obvious that his investigation skills are questionable, poor and emotionally governed. He abused and misused power and office for self-glorification. He ought to respect the rule of law and fundamental human rights as a chief law enforcer in the FCT, but he never did. He knew that he could not perpetuate his evil acts in other states that was why he lured me to the FCT under the disguise of using his P.A. to call me for an urgent assignment and arrested me in form of a kidnap. A Commissioner of Police should be a law enforcer and not a self-imposer. Even though he can violate people's rights at time and still get away sometimes, but not all the time.
I hereby call on all Nigerians to please come and save my soul from this wicked Commissioner of Police who do not want progress for people working under him before he perfected his evil plan of killing me and my family and also create a mystery around his crime through the office of a high police chief in Nigeria. I have been fighting campus cultism and all forms of terrorism in Nigeria since 1998 and I used all my network to project the good image of CP Mbu. He has never added one value to my own career for one single day.
I remember when my problem started with CP Mbu. I was invited for an International Peace Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 2014, for a presentation on logistics to assist African nations improve on security matters. Even though it was a great honour to be given such an invitation, but it was never a coincidence because I merit it. Besides, I have been leading campaigns against terrorism in Nigeria since 1998 when I was in the university. But I expected that a person in a position of the Commissioner of Police of the Federal Capital of Nigeria would be glad to encourage me as a father and a friend, even when I have also contributed in adding value to his job in terms of reputation management. But I was very disappointed when CP Mbu suddenly change upon hearing that I was invited for such presentation and he fired me on the spot with immediate instruction that I should be sent out of the CP Quarters within 24 hours. He claimed that I was hiding information from him by not printing for him the pictures of a Hilux vehicle and that of the First Lady which were published by Sahara Reporters online.
The organisers of the Peace Conference were pestering me to go to the Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja to secure my visa that many of the guests coming from different parts of the world who had been hearing about me were eager to meet me. They had made hotel reservation, feeding, contingency fee and many others benefits for me. The sudden pressure on me by CP Mbu to pack out of Abuja by force could not allow me to do any other thing, so I had to lie to the organisers that I was very sick and in the hospital. I could not attend the conference because I had to relocate urgently from the police quarters.
It is very clear that CP Mbu has been bestowed with so much power that he believes he can do and undo against my life without minding the due process of the law or the consequences. He is after my life for no good reason and looking for the slightest avenue to harm me without being suspected for it. Please, come and save my life now.
Akin' Okunowo
agbajowo@hotmail.com
2348174480107
News-Portal Nigeria © 2014
Any police chief that enjoys eye-service from gossipers rather than quality service from professionals will surely fail. When a secretary to a whole FCT Commissioner of Police could not differentiate between a facebook account and a facebook page, then there are bound to be serious problems when such incompetent secretary is also the adviser of an evil minded ignorant boss on facebook networking matters. They have both ended up as fools and birds of the same feather.
ReplyDeleteIncredible! This is indeed is masterpiece of deciet.
ReplyDeleteYou said you are an anti terrorist and you fought cultism in olabisi onabanjo university whereas the reverse was the case. You were a cultist and you were rusticated from school.
You are also addicted of india hemp , which strongly believe is at work. kudo! LIAR
@akin ... Can you really verify your claims? Why didnt you seek the court for vindication? Why tarnish the image of an innocent man? This man has done you no wrong!
ReplyDeleteThis man is indeed an addict of india hemp....
ReplyDelete