File photo of the deceased, Dauda Danladi
ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
Ms. Zainab Sani, a cousin of the 33-year old man, who was allegedly arrested and tortured to death by a combined team of policemen attached to the Yelwa Division and a vigilante group in Bauchi state, has insisted that her brother died in police custody.
Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, she denied that her brother was asthmatic contrary to what the Bauchi State Police Command, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil, a Superintendent of Police said.
NATIONAL ACCORD had reported that the deceased, Dauda Danladi, was reportedly arrested by the police in front of his shop located in Yelwa Tsakani, a sub-urb of Bauchi metropolis at about 9 PM on Thursday and was taken to the Yelwa Division, where he was allegedly tortured to death.
Two eyewitnesses who spoke with our correspondent on Friday evening at the family house of the deceased, said that the police came with a vigilante group in their numbers in a commando style and started arresting people indiscriminately including the deceased.
The Police PRO, Ahmed Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, in a media statement on Saturday morning, claimed that the deceased who was asmatic died in the hospital after he was rushed to the hospital by a patrol team following a distress call they received.
“On Thursday 8th July, 2021 at about 10:30 PM, police patrol team raided a suspected criminal hideout at Yelwa Tsakani and arrested two suspects,” adding that during the course of the operation, the team equally received a distress call about a person who had slumped and was gasping for breath”.
“Police rushed to the scene and met the victim who was later identified as Dauda ‘m’ surname yet unknown, lying unconscious and reasonably suspected to have an asthmatic attack. He was quickly evacuated by the patrol team to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) for medical attention where he was unfortunately certified dead by a medical doctor”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the command reiterates that the victim did not die in police custody as widely speculated by some mischievous persons who want to mislead the public for reasons best known to them,” he said.
The police spokesman, however, said that the Commissioner of Police, has ordered for a discreet investigation including autopsy to ascertain the actual circumstances surrounding the incident after which the outcome shall be made public, even as he appealed for calm and commiserated with the family of the victim.
Meanwhile, speaking in an interview, Sani, said that her brother was never asmatic, adding that he was hale and hearty at the point of his arrest.
Sani said: “It’s a lie,” she declared, “we stayed together with the deceased in the same house for over 30 years, he was never sick, never even had pneumonia let alone asma, they lied”
“His wife told us that he was very okay when he left the house. She said she even cooked and took food to him in the shop and went back home, then she was later called that the police came and arrested her husband, so she locked his shop and went home.”
She said that it was at about 7 PM on Friday that the police finally agreed and took the family to the mortuary to see the corpse, saying that “they saw the corpse but since investigation is ongoing, they told them not to even touch the corpse. We’re waiting for the investigation and autopsy to know what exactly killed him.”
She insisted that “We strongly believe that it was the police that killed him because he was hale and hearty. We don’t believe what they are saying that he fell in front of his shop and was gasping for breadth and that they took him to the hospital where he died.
“If they took him to the hospital because he was gasping for breadth, why didn’t they call to tell us? It was when we went to the station in the morning and even then, they didn’t tell us exactly what happened but asked us to go back by 2.00pm.
“Still, when we went back by 2.00pm, they still didn’t tell us where the corpse was. It was later in the evening that we got to know that it was at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital.”
She said that the incident has devastated the whole family and has thrown them into mourning particularly the deceased wife who was barely six months married to her brother.
When asked what the family wants? She said: “What we want is justice, even though he is dead, we still want justice for him and for the family. If we don’t get justice, such will continue and the masses and the people will continue to be killed.”
An eyewitness, Abdullahi Adamu, who sells meat just behind the deceased’s shop, told our correspondent that they were chatting with the deceased and some of the people selling things in the area when the police stormed the area at about 9pm.
“They eventually arrested my neighbour, Dauda, and we asked them what had happened that they were arresting him but none of them said a word. We asked a second time but they still didn’t answer us”.
“There’s one elderly man who also has a shop close to us, he came and confronted them and they told him to go back. He insisted in knowing what was going on but they told him to go back, otherwise they will also arrest him and he had to leave. Since, we did our best for them to leave him and they refused, we left them to take him away,” he said.
Asked on whether the statement of the police that he slumped and was gasping for breadth in front of his shop was true, he said: “Honestly, this thing you said, I am just hearing it from you”.
“But everyone here knows what happened, since it was in the full glare of the people here that the police took him into their vehicle and left. I followed them to the police station to see if they will be released, but it wasn’t possible, so I came back. Only for me to hear what had happened the next day”.
Meanwhile, the acting community leader of Yelwa Tsakani, Dauda Karatu, expressed shock over the incident, noting that when the police stormed the area to make the arrests, they did not inform him and even after they left, he was not informed.
He said: “We have a vigilante group in the area and they are helping in maintaining peace and security. When the police was coming to the area, they didn’t inform them and they also didn’t inform me about it”.
“The youths of the area became angry at what had happened because this was the second incident in the area. We had so much difficulty in pacifying them because some of them had threatened to burn down the station.
“Immediately, I called the youth leader and told him what I heard the youths saying that they will burn down the station. I told him to act fast and control the youths before the situation gets out of hand. Thank God the situation was put under control.”
He called on the youths and the family of the deceased to be calm and leave the matter into the hands of God since there is nothing that can be done to bring him back to life, adding that they should allow the Police carryout their investigations and make the outcome public.
“I want to charge the Police to be sincere and just in their investigations. They should ensure that anyone found to have a hand in the incident should be prosecuted appropriately,” he added.