…Suspects, with gang members threatened to kill me-Ebere
…She collects my money, phones because I’m dating her daughter – Suspect
Juliana Francis
A worried mother identified as Chudi Oduaze has claimed that her son, Bashiru, is currently in Kirikiri Prison on remand because she could not afford to pay the complainant, Mrs Ann Ebere, a whopping sum of N500,000, allegedly spent on ShaSha Police Division Personnel.
Oduaze said that Ebere caused Bashiru to be arrested, charged to court and then remanded in prison custody.
She added that if she had coughed up N500,000, Ebere would have allowed Bashiru to go.
She recollected the trouble between Ebere and Bashiru after Ebere warned her to keep away from her underaged daughter identified as Favour, whom Bashiru seemed to have been dating for a while.
Securitynewsalert also heard Bashiru agreed to stop dating Favour on the condition that the latest phone he bought for Favour should be returned to him.
It was further alleged that Bashiru had bought at least three smartphones for Favour and Ebere would later collect such phones from Favour and start making use of them.
When the matter was taken to ShaSha Police Station under the Lagos State Police Command, Oduaze said she asked Ebere what it would take for the matter to be resolved amicably, Ebere responded, “That I should give her the sum of N500,000, which was the money she spent to mobilise Shasha Police Personnel to arrest Bashiru.”
Oduaze said that Bashiru has been in prison remand since December 2024 for committing no crime.
The distraught woman implored the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Jimoh Moshood, to probe Shasha Police Station for unprofessional conduct.
She still recalled the day the police came to arrest Bashiru, but met his absence.
She recounted: “Mama Favour said she did not like Bashiru dating her daughter Favour. She even came to my house to tell me to instruct my son to keep away.
“On the 17th of December, 2024, she came with 15 Police personnel from Shasha Police Station. They came in two commercial buses. They came at about 10: a.m. and kicked down my door net. Mama Favour led them into our apartment. Three policemen grabbed my legs and hands and seized my phone.”
Oduaze said that the community and her compound on that fateful day were like a war zone, with the police personnel running amok, forcing neighbours’ doors open, creating panic.
“When they dragged me outside, I noticed that they had handcuffed my landlord, one of our neighbours, my son Chika and the landlord’s son Mohammed. As I was dragged outside, Mama Favour walked over and pushed me into one of the buses.
“Among the people were two children about eight years old, Daniel and Usman. One of the policemen shouted at the children to stop running or he would shoot. He ordered them to kneel and raise their hands.”
Oduaze’s 14-year-old daughter, Success, who witnessed the marauding police team, told Securitynewsalert that she had never been so scared in her life.
She narrated: “I saw the policemen roughly manhandling my mom. My brother Chika, who was only on short was dragged into one of the buses. I was scared and ran away to hide.”
The arrested people were all taken to Shasha Police Station, where they would later bail themselves.
Oduaze said: “At least five of us were arrested and detained on that day. It was Favour who later called Bashiru to alert him that her mother, Ebere, had caused the police to arrest us. It was Bashiru that they came to arrest.
“Bashiru went to Mama Favour’s Shop at Dopemu to plead with her to release us, but the woman started screaming and calling him a thief, that was how people gathered. Police arrested and brought him to the station. I saw the police beating Bashiru and it simply broke my heart; they punched his eyes, and it got swollen and became bloodshot. After beating him, they put him inside the cell in handcuffs.
“Some hours later, they removed the handcuff. Mama Favour claimed that my son threatened her life. I was arrested on Tuesday morning and released on Wednesday at about 7:30 pm. My landlord paid N150,000 for bail; for himself, his son Mohammed and the tenant arrested with him. I didn’t pay for bail.”
Oduaze said that the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in charge of the case, Agabi, tried to assist her by asking her to take Bashiru on bail, but she could not raise money for bail or get a male person who could stand surety.
At a point, said Oduaze, Ebere and her husband were invited by the Police, the husband said he did not want the case to continue, but Ebere insisted on the police going all the way.
“Mama Favour told me that unless I pay her N500,000, she would not withdraw the case. She said that she paid ShaSha Police N500,000 to facilitate the case, and the police were hailing her, saying she did not allow hunger to kill them. When we went to court, my son was given bail, but we could not meet the bail conditions.”
The woman disclosed that since the matter started, she had spent a lot of money and continued to spend, especially on lawyers.
She said that one of the lawyers charged her N230,000 to take up the case of Bashiru, which forced her to sell her wrappers, TV Set, Standing Fan, Mattress, Cooking pots, grinding machine and large-size umbrella used by traders.
However, Ebere, reacting to allegations raised by Oduaze said that she got the Police to arrest Bashiru because he threatened to kill her, not because he was dating Favour.
She also has recordings of Bashiru threatening her life. She said Bashiru belonged to a gang known as the One Million Boys, and that she had become traumatized following their incessant threats.
She also said that Bashiru told her that immediately after he came out from prison, she should consider herself dead.
Below is her narration:
“Let me correct you, I got police to arrest him because he threatened to kill me. He came to my house on the 17th of December 2024, with a gang of boys. They came around midnight and left at 2: a.m.
“We ran away and returned to our house at 3: am. By 4:am, they came back. It was a threat to life. After that threat, he came to Aluminum Village, where I had my shop to kill me, but the police arrested him. He is a cultist!
“What led to the threat is because my daughter is 16 years old. I don’t know what transpired between the two of them, I called him on the phone as a mother and told him that please, I did not want him to continue dating my daughter. Are you with my daughter anymore?
“ On the day he came to Aluminum Village where I sell. He came with a wrapped nylon and told people that he wanted to give my daughter a gift, he showed them my daughter’s picture.
“People brought him to my shop. Police came there to arrest him, they asked him why he brought One Million Boys to this big market. He told them that I said he should not continue to date my daughter. He said them, if they were in his position, they would take the same action. On the day he and his boys came to our house, and we ran away, they sent an SMS, that we should continue running, but that they’d surely catch us. I have recordings of him threatening my life.
“My daughter is underage, and he came to my house with his boy to threaten. There were more than 200 boys. I didn’t want to involve other members of his gang because I still live in that community.
“My life is at risk. As I’m speaking with you right now, his boys are still threatening me. They used to send threatening messages, asking us to release Lighter or they would kill us. Lighter is the nickname they call him.
“Sometimes because of fear, we would lodge in a hotel. So saying it’s a matter of dating is making seemed insignificant. This is a case of threat to life. Someone came to for his bail, but when the police told him the crimes of that boy, the person left.’
“He was taken to court because nobody came to bail him. Anyone who would intervene in this matter and get him out of prison will have to ensure of protection of my life and those of my family members.
“He threatened me that when he come out, that I should not dream to live. Some of his gang members came from far distance. Even if I run out of the community, will I also run away from where I sell?
“As for the N500,000 issue, it is the money I spent on the case. I spent over N500,000 when we were at the police station. There was a time when his mother came with Juju. They even took my daughter to a shrine.
“At Afonka (Shasha) Police Station, I spent N50,000 on four vehicles for the arrest, 21 police personnel came to arrest the mother. When she saw that her son had been arrested, she started begging. I told her to return all the money I spent. I said, before I was able to arrest his mother, I spent more than that N500,000.
“The mother came to my house on Sunday with a stick. I now called the Afonka Police, they met the woman right inside my house with a stick to fight me. The woman came with something that was tied red cloth. When I saw the woman from the window coming, I locked the doors.
“The woman hit on my net. I said, Madam, come inside. She said she was not coming inside, that if they were born well, I should come outside. My neighbours gave her a chair to sit down. I now call Afonka Police. They said I would have to pay N10,000 for them to come, so I transferred 10,000 to them. I now give them the address.
“Police now come, meet her right inside my door tent, with a stick. The policewoman happens to be a Benin. The woman now said this thing this woman held was juju. She told the mother that the DPO was calling her.
“She told the Policewoman to go and tell the DPO that she was calling him, that she was not going anywhere. The day I mobilized the police to come and carry her, four policewomen slapped her. They now run to DPO and tell DPO, that the woman, whom they had invited three times, has been finally arrested.
“I also didn’t like spending money on this case, so we met this woman and begged that we should make peace, my husband and I were mad. She said that if we wanted trouble, she would give us. She said that she would go to Ogun State, and call Ogun State juju people to come face us. She refused peace talk and then after I had spent money, she’s now begging, asking for peace.
“I used to tell people that want to intervene to go to Afonka Police Station to hear things themselves. When my husband went to their house with a policeman, Bashiru and his brother, slapped the policeman. The Policeman is still alive. My husband had to run away.
“We have five recordings of him. If that boy comes out of prison, it’s only God that will save me. Whenever I go to Cotonou, Agbara, where I produce my market, my daughter will leave. She’s learning Fashion design. She will leave the house to go and meet the boy. I cannot be everywhere. Whenever I’m going to the factory, I will leave home around 4:30 am. I do sell aluminium. If I go to Cotonou, my daughter will leave the house and her siblings, to go to the boy’s house. But I did not arrest him because of my daughter.”
When Bashiru was contacted in prison, he denied all the allegations levelled against him by Ebere, stressing that the trouble between him and her was because she refused to return the phone he bought and gave to Favour.
He said that he had so far bought three phones for Favour on different occasions and that Ebere converted the phones to her use. Bashiru, who is 23 years old according to his mother, said that when Ebere asked him to stop dating Favour, he accepted, but asked Ebere to return the latest phone he bought for Favour, which was in her possession. He also said that in the course of dating Favour, he used to give money to Ebere.
The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) prohibits arresting someone in lieu of a suspect, meaning you cannot arrest a person in place of a person sought for an offence committed.
Similarly, anyone, (woman) as long as there is no legal impediment is qualified to stand as a surety for an accused person granted either an administrative bail at the police station or bail at the court pending the determination of his trial.
