Police Seized My Vehicles, Detained Me For Seven Months, Man Tells Ogun Panel

MAYOWA Ayodele, one of the petitioners at the ongoing panel of inquiry at Ogun State on Wednesday narrated how he was detained for seven months for demanding transport fare from policemen who had chartered his vehicle.

Ayodele, who worked as a taxi driver in Sagamu area of the state said his vehicle was chartered on March 7, 2018, by four men of the Nigerian Police Force, who he alleged locked him up for demanding money after the ride.

He said he was ordered to be locked up the moment he requested for their transport fare, which was a sum of N4,500.

“I took them from the Mowe area to Magboro and back to Shagamu. After the ride, I requested my money, which was N4,500, but they refused to pay me. They said they were working for the government,” Ayodele told the panel.

“Their Superior ordered them to lock me up”

Ayodele said his vehicle was seized while he was locked up in a cell at the Motor Traffic Division of the Police in Shagamu, where he spent 16 days before he was charged for pipeline vandalism at the Federal High Court in Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.

He said although he knew nothing about the charge against him but was remanded in the prison for seven months.

Kayode Aderemi, counsel to the petitioner said his client was charged along with eight others for pipeline vandalism, but the case was eventually dismissed after seven months of the trial on the strength of no case.

“All nine of them were later acquitted,” Aderemi said.

Ayodele said he made effort to recover the vehicle, which he purchased in installment for a sum of N1,050,000 which he has not finished paying but was faced with more harassment from the police.

“When I got back to collect my car, I met another boss there at the Motor Traffic Division. He said I had the effrontery to come ask for my car, and he ordered them to lock me up again. I spent another four days there before my lawyer came to bail me.”

Ayodele said he has been jobless since he returned from prison, adding that he prays the government helps him recover his vehicle.

The respondents to the petition, however, did not appear before the panel.

Justice Solomon Olugbemi (rtd), Chairman of the panel, asked the victim to return on November 30.