Oyo State : How I became blind after SARS killed my son – mother of 24yrs old victim

 

Petition 4 is OYJPBB/083. The petition is between the Family of Late Kabiru Arekemase and SARS, Dugbe.

Mother of Kabiru Arekemase, a 24yrs old man who was evidently slayed by operatives of Special Anti Roberry Squad (SARS) at Dugbe in Ibadan, Oyo State has narrated how she became totally blind after her son, who was the breadwinner of the family was extrajudicially killed by SARS.

According to mother of the deceased, her late son was a multilingual person who spoke and understand many languages and who standing as a bridge between customers and foreign organization. She said he’s whom that made him rich and a breadwinner of the family.

Mrs Arekemase recounted that before her son's death, SARS operatives at Dugbe  came to their residence at Idi Aro on several occasions to demand money from her son which her son used to declined and he used to tell them that he was not into illegal business, saying there was no need for any settlement.

She said, “My son was arrested by SARS and detained for four months over false allegation of armed robbery even though there was no victim of the offence before he was later charged and arraigned at Chief Magistrate Court, Iyaganku on 8th of August, 2006 and was later acquitted.

“My son was re-arrested by SARS and took to custody four months after he was acquitted by court for his failure to meet the SARS monetary demands, while in custody, I used to visited him and took food to him, but one of the SARS official told me one day that my son has been wasted (killed) by SARS.

“I wept for many years which later led to my total blindness, I even requested for the corpse of my late son but all my pleas fell on the deaf ears of the SARS operatives.”

Meanwhile, Arekemase family has demanded for compensation of N250 million from the Federal government of Nigeria, through the Nigerian Police over the death of their son.

In a petition Suit No: OYJPPB/083 instituted by mother of the deceased on behalf of the family against the Nigerian Police claimed compensation for malicious arrest and prosecution of their son which led to his extra judicial killing by SARS operatives as a result of false allegation of armed robbery leveled against him.

The SARS operatives was allegedly to have killed Kabiru between October 2007 and February 2008 without charging him to any court, which was described as an act of violation to his constitutional right of life as enshrine in section 33(1) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

In support of the petition, two witnesses, Mrs Ngozi Arekemase and Mrs A. Falade adopted their statement on oath and gave evidence before the panel set up by the government to look into Police brutality and extra judicial killing, while the respondent, (Nigerian Police), represented by N.A. Ojah did not filed a defence or response to the petition and did not called any witness to oppose the evidence of the petitioner and rested their case on the case of the petitioner.