Police Detained, Tortured Me While Pregnant, Killed My Husband Over N200 Airtime — Widow

Police Detained, Tortured Me While Pregnant, Killed My Husband Over N200 Airtime — Widow

A widow, Adebimpe Sobowale, has alleged that men of the Nigeria Police Force tortured her while she was three months pregnant, over N200 airtime allegedly traced to her phone.

Sobowale, who disclosed this at the Judicial Panel of Enquiry sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Monday, said her husband also died in police detention over the same issue.

She claimed the operatives stormed her residence at night and arrested her over an alleged fraud committed with her SIM card.

She said she was taken to a holding cell in the station where she was detained and tortured with something like electric torch.

Sobowale said this while defending a petition filed against the operatives of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad Zonal Intervention in the state.

She said, “They used the thing, which was plugged to an electric socket to shock me, and asked me to write whatever they dictated to me as a statement. They said I belonged to a gang of fraudsters.

“They said my SIM card was used to collect N200 recharge. They said they tracked it at Zain (Airtel) office and it brought my picture.

“I told them I didn’t know what they were talking about and I refused to implicate myself in the statement. They arrested my husband on February 10 and released me the next day.

“Some days later, I was informed that my husband had died in detention.”

Sobowale said she was picked up by three SARS officers but she could only identify two of them, recalling that one of them was called Inspector Apiah Moses.

She said she was released after spending four days in detention when her husband reported at the police station.

The widow said a few days after the husband was taken into custody in her stead, she received a call that her husband had died in custody.

She had a son before her arrest and the pregnancy had produced another baby boy. She brought both of them before the panel.

A witness in the matter, Ojo Friday, explained his efforts in securing bail for Sobowale at the time of her arrest.

He said, “When I got to the SARS Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS) three days after she was arrested, I met the Officer-in-Charge, Mr. Megbope, and explained that a woman was being detained here. He expressed surprise. It was then that the IPO came in to brief him.

“I expressed my displeasure to the OC, I said ‘somebody is being locked up here for the past three days and he is not aware’, he was not pleased with my statement and he asked me to go out.”

Friday further explained that the Officer-in-Charge later assured him that the woman would be released once the husband was apprehended.

“The husband showed up on February 10 and the woman was released the next day, while the husband was held in detention. About three or four days after, I heard that the husband had died.”

The case was adjourned till February 4, 2021, while the respondents were asked to produce Inspector Apiah Moses and the woman allegedly defrauded.

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Source: Police Detained, Tortured Me While Pregnant, Killed My Husband Over N200 Airtime — Widow