Juliana Francis
A human rights activist, Comrade Alex Omotehinse, has petitioned the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Idowu Owohunwa, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigative Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, Mr. Ayilara Waheed, to order the release of one Mr Ademola Benjamin, who has been in military and police detention for 85 days.
Omotehinse urged the policemen to urgently intervene, even as he explained how Benjamin came to be in police custody.
He said: “The truth about the story is that Mr Ademola Benjamin unknowingly bought a stolen phone from an unsuspecting man and later the person was arrested by the Nigeria Army Dordan barrack under the 81 division.
“The Army later arrested Mr Ademola Benjamin for receiving a stolen phone and detained him since on 3rd of May 2023 without allowing the family access to his family and after keeping Mr Ademola Bejamin for good 79 days in the Dordan barrack detention facility the army moved him to the Nigeria Police Force for prosecution on Friday 21st July 2023 and the victim Mr Ademola Benjamin is now still been held at the SCIID detention facility Panti since Friday till date, that means Mr Ademola Benjamin is now 85 days in detention without been released on bail in a bailable offence.
“It will interest you to know that Mr. Ademola Benjamin has suffered emotional torture and presently his family is still not sure of how many days the police want to keep the young man
“In the foregoing, we humbly appeal to the Authority in the leadership of Nigeria Police Force Lagos State Command to kindly release Mr. Ademola Benjamin on bail for him to reunite with his family while they can continue with their investigation.”
