ADEGBOYEGA Agbaje, a petitioner before the Osun state judicial panel of inquiry on police brutality, human rights violations and related extra-judicial killings, has demanded a N10 million compensation from the police for molesting him.
Adegboyega, who is a market leader in Ikire, the headquarters of Irewole Local Government Area of Osun State, accused operatives of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), of arresting him and his wife, Mistura, in handcuffs and paraded them in the market which he claimed exposed him to public ridicule.
He alleged that his house was invaded on August 18, by operatives of SARS, who came to look for his son whom they accused of being a robber.
“I was arrested alongside my wife and handcuffed. We were first taken to a police station in Ikoyi and later to Apomu. We were taken to Osogbo in search of my son. We were handcuffed for about 10 hours before we were released.”
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He said due to the incident, he was suspended by the market association but was later reinstated when it was proven that he was unlawfully arrested and was found not guilty of any offence by the same association.
“I was suspended as a market chief because of the arrest and unwarranted scenario by the police. It was believed in the community that I had committed a grievous offence which was why my wife and I were handcuffed.
“I was later reinstated after three months when they saw that I was not guilty of the offence the police arrested me for. I have official letters of both the suspension and my reinstatement.”
Justice Akin Oladimeji (retd.), the chairman of the panel has adjourned the matter till January 8, 2021, for the presentation of the final written address.
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