This is a message we received from Adeoye Martins, a Lagos resident who seeks to understand why policemen harass young men and women for no reason.

Read his submission below:

I don’t know if I can use your channel as a medium to expose how young boys are being harassed by the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) around Baruwa, Ipaja, Abesan Estate, Lagos. I feel so cheated!

The whole scenario goes thus:

I left my home around 10:30 am on Wednesday 22nd February 2017 for a church program. I was challenged by a huge, (about 6ft4) tall man, he showed me is ID, claiming to be a policeman as he dragged me like a criminal down to their vehicle along the roadside.

I showed them my ID card (student ID) and I explained to them that I was on my to a church program, upon doing that, they insisted I enter their vehicle but I refused. Behold, I got a slap from behind from the other colleague, threatening me to enter the vehicle. I started shouting, insisting I was not going maybe I could get some assistance from the passersby but it wasn’t working.

I complied after they had inflicted a huge amount pain, they dragged me into the vehicle and handcuffed me, they started ransacking my jeans, wallet and checking through my phone. My blood raged again and I asked, what exactly they wanted from me, after all, they’ve checked my wallet and my phone but nothing to show I was a criminal nor was I into a shady business, but they started beating me again, asking how much do I have in my two ATM cards(Diamond bank and Zenith Bank), I explained to them I didn’t have a lot of money in the accounts and they tried to lure me down to the ATM machine around Meiran area close to BIG JOY GUEST HOUSE to withdraw cash but fortunately, there was a very long queue and so they ordered me back into the vehicle and we moved.

I observed they were picking on guys randomly which made me suggest perhaps they could be ‘Yahoo police’.

They drove me from Baruwa bus stop, Ipaja to Meiran and back to Iyana Ipaja. On the way, they picked another guy and his girlfriend from First Bank, Iyana Ipaja because the guy was handling so much cash with him. When they could not get money from me, they collected my wristwatch, a rose gold Corum Admirals cup worth #35,000 and my Gucci slippers worth #15,000 and zoomed off. How could I have bailed myself out when I had done nothing wrong?

This is my question, is this how policemen and some other law enforcing bodies are meant to operate even when they find you are not into shady business nor are you a criminal.

Please, I urge you once again to help me use your channel as a medium to expose the bad egg amongst them, we are not safe in their hands anymore.

I’ve been writing this all through the night because I couldn’t sleep. I’m so traumatised!

Roqeebah

Creative mind. Enthusiast. Learner. Multipotentialite. And here, an assistant editor.