SARS Brutality: Man who refused to surrender phone to police in Ikeja feared dead [Video]

A man was reportedly assaulted and feared dead following an assault by SARS operatives in Ikeja.

It was an atmosphere of panicking for observers who witnessed an assault on a man by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Ogba, Ikeja.

A video shared on Instagram showed a group of policemen as they tried to force the unidentified victim in a yellow mini-bus.

He appeared to be resisting arrest according to an Instablog9ja caption which explained that he had refused to surrender his phone for checking.

 

An eyewitness thinks he died from the violent SARS encounter.

“They demanded to see his phone, which he refused. The next thing was them harassing him and tied him all up.

"I heard he died though, but not sure about it. Another source said he's in the hospital as those in the area didn't allow SARS officials drop him when they noticed he was convulsing, so they took him to a private hospital," the eyewitness expressed.

 

SARS is becoming a synonym for 'unprovoked violence'

There has been no shortage of tragic reports concerning the harsh dealings of SARS operatives with innocent civilians.

This has birthed widespread criticism within local communities who have been affected by the excesses of officers from the police department.

A businessman, Immanuel Ibe-Anyanwu, who didn't have much spirit for protests took shelter from SARS in the toilet of a Zenith Bank branch in Okota, Lagos.

He made a call for assistance on Monday, April 9, 2018, according to reports.

 

Ibe-Anyanwu observed that the SARS men met him when he was leaving the bank but their motives were not chiefly related to providing security according to Ibe-Anyanwu.

“I was coming out of the banking hall after a transaction around 2pm on Monday when a man in mufti approached me.

"He said he was a policeman. I asked for his ID card, which he showed me. He told me to follow him to where their vehicle was parked.

“They were seven in number in a mini-bus. They were all armed, except the driver.

"Immediately we got there, he told his colleagues that I was trying to snatch his ID card from him. I was shocked. I wanted to explain, but they asked me to shut up.

“They went through my company documents. They saw that the address of my company was at Ikoyi and asked what I was doing at Okota.

"I told them that I came for a banking transaction. They asked why I didn’t do it at Ikoyi and I replied that I lived in Okota and that I left my house late and wanted to do the transaction before going to the office.

“They asked what we do in my company and I told them. They asked what I was doing before I opened the company. They said I should open my car for a search. which they did; they didn’t find anything there.

"They said I should enter their vehicle so that I could take them to my office at Ikoyi to confirm that I worked there. They said they know the street, but they don’t know my company.

“They said because of the man that begged for me they would release me. They called me aside and asked me to arrange some money for them. I told them that I needed my phone to arrange the money. They returned my phone.

“I went into the bank and sneaked into the toilet where I wrote the Facebook post. I called the police spokesperson again to inform him that they had just released my phone and were demanding money. He told me not to give them anything. He said he had mobilised some officers and they were coming to rescue me.

“I was in the toilet till 4pm and thought by then they would have left; but they stayed. Later, the bank workers asked me to leave their premises.

"By then, my phone battery was flat and I could not call anybody. By the time I peeped outside, I saw they had removed my car’s number plate,” the business man expressed.

Bank could not protect victim from SARS

Shelter at the Okota branch of Zenith Bank appeared to be an issue for Immanuel Ibe-Anyanwu, who was under pressure to leave the financial institution.

An order given by the bank officials insisted on his departure following an end of duty.

 

This soon forced him to make a forced exit from the company.

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Help finally came from the office of the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Edgal Imohimi, who requested on having the officers concerned be arrested.

"The bank asked me to leave their premises. I was confused. I decided to risk it and speed out. That was how I escaped.

"Although I can recognise them, they don’t have any name tag. They only had their crested guns with SARS jacket," says a rescued Ibe-Anyanwu.

The X-Squad of the police had appeared just in time to force the SARS men to make a run for it.

They have however been identified and are within an inch reach of being arrested.

“On sighting the X-Squad personnel of the command, the erring policemen hurriedly left the scene in a manner suggestive that they were on an illegal duty.

“The Lagos CP directed the Officer-in-Charge of the X-Squad Section to fish out the policemen within two hours.

"That directive was actualised with the identification of the policemen involved. They were led in that inglorious duty by one Inspector Jude Akhoyemta, attached to FSARS Ikeja.

"The CP has ordered their arrest and as soon as that is done, the public will be notified," confirms state police spokesperson, SP Chike Oti.