How disbanded Gombe SARS killed my brother over alleged stolen phone
Chima Azubuike, Gombe
Abubakar Muhammad, has narrated the ordeal his deceased younger brother faced while in detention, adding that out of twenty five thousand naira (N25,000) bail he paid twenty thousand naira (N20,000) but yet his brother was not released.
According to Muhammad, his 20 year old, brother Usman Muhammad was murdered by the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) for allegedly stealing phone belonging to SARS officer’s wife.
Muhammad said he had accompanied his deceased brother to ensure everything went well, adding that the victim came along with the receipt given to him when he bought the phone as evidence to proof his innocence.
Muhammad said, “I was charged (N25,000) twenty five thousand naira for bail, but I made a deposit of (N20,000) twenty thousand naira and i promised to complete the actual sum the next day. Before leaving the station i knew the danger my brother was in so i begged the police not to handover my brother Usman Muhammad to SARS operatives. To my dismay, when I returned to the station I saw them dragging my brother on the floor like a sack.”
Adamu Bello, in his testimony to the Gombe state commission of inquiry on human right violations by the SARS, police and other agencies said when he accompanied Muhammad to see his brother he saw late Usman Muhammad being maltreated by the officers.
“Usman was brought out by 3 officers, one of them was a woman, one of the officers suddenly started beating him. He placed him on the counter and the other one hit him on his shoulder with the edge of his gun.
“Usman kept pleading with them, asking them not to wound him but they didn’t listen. They broke his right leg, hand and cut his throat,” Bello said.
Bello added that the victim was taken to Gombe State specialist hospital by the officers, stressing that the officers placed him under their seat which made his plight worse.
He said, “When we finally arrived the state specialist hospital the doctor refused to admit him saying that they don’t have oxygen.”
However, lawyer to the respondent, Barr. Umadi Thomas argued that they never had the type of vehicle the witness described.
