Two petitioners: Alhaji Kehinde Gobir and Alhaji Shuaib Jawondo, on Wednesday said that some police officers attached to the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad detained them for 73 days in order to implicate former President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
The duo, who gave graphic details of how they were tortured and humiliated by the police, claimed that the disbanded SARS operatives threatened and asked them to implicate Saraki during their alleged ordeal in detention.
Testifying before the #EndSARS panel of inquiry in Ilorin, Kwara State, the petitioners alleged high depth of impunity and human rights abuses by the SARS operatives who interrogated them for their alleged involvement in April 5, 2018 Offa, Kwara State bank robbery.
“We spent over 73 days in police detention in both Ilorin and Abuja as the police accused us of collecting guns from Saraki to participate in the bank robbery operation,” they said.
They, however, clarified that they were only political supporters of the former Senate President.
The petitioners also accused the disbanded SARS officers of confiscating their property, which included two Toyota Corolla cars, handsets and N250,000 collected before they were granted bail.
“We did not participate in any crime or involved in any robbery killing in Offa or having any criminal records whatsoever as being wrongfully alleged by the SARS officers. We urge the panel to do the needful by facilitating the quick recovery of our property,” the petitioners said.
In his response, counsel for the police, Adekunle Iwalaye, urged the panel to dismiss the petitions in their entirety.
The Chairman of the panel, Justice Tunde Garba (retd.), adjourned the matter till January 13, 2021 for continuation of hearing.
Reacting to the development, Saraki said in a tweet on his Twitter handle that the truth will always come out.
Tweeting the link to an article that stated that two petitioners at the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on #EndSARS sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Wednesday narrated how officers and men of the SARS tortured them to implicate him, Saraki said: “Alhamdulillah! Like light, the truth will ALWAYS come out!”