A group of masked gunmen had stormed the Igbogbo Police Station, Lagos State and disappeared with a 26-year-old suspect, Waidi Kabiru, on Sunday, November 23, 2015.
The three-man gang members had sneaked into the station around 1am on the fateful day, grabbed the suspect and disappeared to an unknown destination.
Kabiru, a musician, was arrested by a team of policemen who raided Shelewu Road, in the Ikorodu area of the state on Friday, November 21, 2015, Punch reports.
However, the state police command confirmed that the suspect who was iniilly arrested had been released on bail, although they failed to disclose the surety to whom he was released.
The abducted suspect’s father, Mr. Bisiriyu Kabiru, said he had been visiting his son since Friday when he was arrested, adding that he had gone to the station to give him food on the fateful day but was shocked to hear that he was no longer inside the cell.
He said, “He called me on the phone around 9am on Friday that he was arrested during a raid and I went to the station to see him. One of the policemen I met asked me how much I had to bail him out and I said N4,000. But he told me it wasn’t enough and I left. I later came back with N5,000, but I was told that the DPO had taken over the case.
“On Saturday, I brought food for him (Waidi) at the station and was there till the evening, trying to secure his bail. When I got there on Sunday to give him food, the policemen at the counter said he had gone out with the DPO. But I was not allowed to see the DPO. I later learnt that he was whisked out of the cell early Sunday morning by three men who were masked. It was on Monday that I decided to inform his mother.”
Waidi’s mother, Karimat Adebanbi, said she went to the station on Monday, November 24, 2015 where the officials showed her a register containing details of suspects which idiated that her son was arrested during a raid, but had been released.
She said, “The policemen I met at the station called my son from the cell, but nobody answered. They checked the register and saw his name there, indicating that he had been released on bail. I asked them who stood as a surety for him, but they refused to tell me. They told me to look for him at his friends’ houses. We don’t know his whereabouts and his number is switched off.
“I went to the station again on Thursday and Saturday to see the DPO; they said he was not around. I called him several times before he picked his call. He said he was somewhere and told me to wait. I waited for hours but he did not come back.”
It was learnt that the family had also petitioned the state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, through an activist, Prince Akinsemoyin, to investigate their son’s disappearance from the cell.
The petition also requested the CP to quiz the DPO and policemen involved in the case to unravel the circumstances surrounding the youth’s disappearance.
It read in part: “I wish to bring to your attention that up till now, the whereabouts of Waidi Kabiru is still unknown. We strongly suspect a foul play in this matter. The time has come to critically investigate the DPO and the role the DPO played in this case. If he has been released, to whom? On what grounds was he released to the surety and what offence was he arrested for?
“We would like the police to produce the surety or else the policemen involved in this matter need to explain his sudden disappearance from Igbogbo police’s custody. This incident is capable of bringing the image of the police to disrepute. We hereby request a full scale investigation into this matter.”
The Lagos State police spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor, who dismissed the clams that Kabiru was abducted from the cell said: “It was not true that he was abducted. The suspect was released on bail to an identifiable person. The DPO said he had the name of the surety, but he did not disclose the name of the person to me.”
