A Nigerian activist, Tunde Abass, has recounted his ordeal while in police custody after he was reportedly arrested and detained for filming an incident of police brutality in Lagos state.
According to SaharaReporters, Tunde was arrested on Sunday, March 21 by officers attached to Onipanu Division for filming them while in operation.
In a video live-streamed on his Facebook account, a policeman was seen trying to harass a young man driving a wine-colored car.
Angered by the actions of the police officers, Tunde could be heard shouting at the top of his voice and telling the police officer not to harass the man because “he has provided necessary documents”.
While speaking in the video, he added;
You’re trying to intimidate the guy. They’ve burst his tyres. They’ve burst the guy’s tyres. They’re trying to intimidate the guy.
Following this, Tunde was arrested and detained, according to his counsel, Ayo Ademiluyi, adding that after being beaten “black and blue”, the man was denied food brought by his friends.
The lawyer stressed;
He was also detained with a mentally deformed detainee who made his midnight sleep a miserable one by kicking him in the sides.
He was taken to the Yaba Magistrate Court, where the police officers who brought him from Onipanu Division were not successful in filing trumped-up charges against him after same was rejected by the counsel from the Department of Public Relations, who vetted the charges.
According to the account, police officers returned him to the cell at Onipanu Division before taking him to Legal Department of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti “and were unsuccessful in getting a charge preferred against him”.
Ademiluyi added;
In frustration, they handed him over to Divisional Police Officer of Pedro Police Station who kept him in a dark and dingy solitary cell, where nobody will have access to him.
Tunde has now been released from detention and using his official Twitter handle this morning, he thanked Nigerians for standing by him during the ordeal.
Thank to everyone for your solidarity support during my time of detentions until my release I appreciate all your concerns towards me.Deep in my heart I do believe,We Shall Overcome before this victory is won, some will have to get thrown in jail # #PoliceBrutality #EndSARS pic.twitter.com/Csxzs1EVW2
— TUNDE Abass (@TUNDEAbass10) March 24, 2021
See some photos of him looking brutalized below;
