“IF any youth is declared missing in Ilorin nowadays, the probability that he’s being illegally arrested or killed by police is higher than him being kidnapped. Ilorin police men are crazy”, These stark words from a social media user with the handle @Adamthallith on November 7, 2024, summarises a terrifying reality for many in Kwara State. Citizen frustration, already growing, had reached a boiling point with the killing of Kwara State Polytechnic student Qoyum on September 4, and the death of Suleiman Olayinka in police hands in November last year.
Qoyum was shot dead by officers. While the police admitted wrongdoing and dismissed those responsible, the harassment and human rights violations persisted.
The case of Qoyum: an engineer’s dream cut short
When The ICIR sat with Qoyum’s father, Muskilu Yakeen, in Ilorin, barely two months after the demise of his son, whom he said harboured the dream of becoming an electrical engineer, the sadness and feelings of despair still lingered.
Qoyum had gained admission into the state polytechnic in 2022 to pursue the career his father had set out for him. They were both electricians, but the son felt the need to continue his career by going to learn the theoretical part of the job.
However, on the day, Qoyum was preparing for his sign-out ceremony to mark his completion of ND-2 two he was stopped and bundled into a police van around Agric area of Ilorin on September 5, 2024.
His father stated officers accused him of being a “yahoo boy” (internet fraudster) and was fatally shot attempting to escape the vehicle while officers were allegedly chasing other youths.
After he was brought down, the officers fled the area but unfortunately, an attempt to save his life by a passerby was not enough to do so.
Qoyum’s father was asleep when he received a call from his brother that his son had had a ‘serious accident’. But due to the loss of blood, Qoyum had been rushed to the hospital.
“When we got to the hospital the doctor was asking if we were sure that it was a car accident. I told him that I was only informed he had an accident. It was later that we learnt he was actually shot. My brother who rushed him to the hospital only knew about the incident about two hours after he was hit by bullet.
“They probably would have done it without claiming responsibility; but there was this student who was also coming from ShopRite and was stopped by the same ‘Dangote’ police (officers using a car donated by Dangote). So those guys met Qoyum inside the police car,” he said.
The father said it was when the police were negotiating settlement with the other victim that Qoyum felt he was safe and took to his heels. “He ran and I think it was when they couldn’t get hold of him that he was shot in the hand,” he said, adding that, “Despite being shot, he was able to drag himself to a corner far away from their eyes. If he probably had made it to the main road, he would probably have been saved by passersby.”
However, the Kwara police responded with ‘promises’ of an investigation, and eventually dismissed the three officers in connection with his death.
For many, this was not an isolated incident but another chapter in Kwara’s ongoing saga of police brutality, reminiscent of the abuses that led to the #EndSARS protests and the disbandment of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in 2020.
Another killing linked to the Kwara police: Suleiman Olayinka
Two months after Qoyum’s incident, 27-year-old Suleiman Olayinka was brutally harassed and beaten by police in Tanke, Ilorin. Eyewitnesses and family who spoke to The ICIR said three officers jumping from a yellow tricycle, manhandling Olayinka for his reluctance to enter their vehicle. He collapsed and was declared dead upon arrival at the police clinic in Ganmo.
Olayinka collapsed during the encounter, but by the time officers conveyed him to the station, his body was unnervingly still. Olayinka was later declared dead upon reaching the police clinic in Ganmo, his cousin, Abdullahi Ajase said.
Ajase, explained the arrest stemmed from a N400,000 dispute in a business transaction where Olayinka had paid N2 million of N2.4 million, promising the rest later. The aggrieved friend reported him to Ganmo Police Station.
The police spokesperson while speaking with The ICIR claimed Olayinka resisted arrest, leading to a fatal struggle, family members, including Olayinka’s mother and eyewitness vehemently dispute this account. They stated that the officers’ actions were excessively brutal.
The circumstances remain controversial, but his killing added to a disturbing trend of young men in Kwara, particularly those perceived as successful or “flashy,” increasingly targeted by law enforcement officers.
The ICIR gathered that the abuse can be abrupt and systemically. In the state capital, the police targeted school areas, such as Tanke, Oke Odo, Tippa Garage, Sanrab and many communities surrounding Kwara polytechnic Ilorin.
For Kwara polytechnic students, some of the students and sources who spoke with The ICIR listed Agric area, Oyun Bridge, Harmony and Tanke axis asare as where the police lurk around.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (UDHR), set out fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Article 3 of the document states that, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person,” while article 5 safeguards everyone from being subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Also, Article 7 submits that, “All are equal before the law and are entitled without discrimination to equal protection of the law.” The article makes it clear that, “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”, while Article 10 gives everyone an entitlement in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), outlines the fundamental human rights guaranteed to all citizens, including the right to life, dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, private and family life, freedom of movement, and freedom from discrimination.
However, none of these laws have deterred violations of human rights abuses in Kwara as there have been many reported cases of abuse against the Nigerian police.
A change that never happened
After the #EndSARS protests rocked the country in 2020, there was widespread belief that police harassment of citizens would be curtailed. In 2021, the Kwara State government received panel report, recommended improved training and remuneration for officers. While the salary reportedly went up by 20 per cent in 2021 and 2024, The ICIR’s investigation confirms that these reforms have failed to curb their excesses.
Walking into a Police trap: the death of Jimoh Erubu Abdulqodir
On December 20, 2024, Jimoh Erubu Abdulqodir, an employee at Ola livestock, was home intending to settle a N220,000 debt he owed one of his bosses. He had gotten N350,000 from his family and planned to pay the debt from it when he returns to Offa from the new year break. That evening, a colleague called, asking him to meet at Balogun Fulani’s house a few blocks from his location, to collect a pair of pants and shoes he had said he would bring for him. Abdulqodir, who was preparing roasted yam, alongside his sister, hurriedly left unaware he was walking into a police trap.
Shortly after arriving, he was arrested by plainclothes officers along with the colleague who lured him out. The colleague was soon freed, but Abdulqodir never returned alive.
Jimoh Oladimeji, the deceased’s elder brother, explained they were taken on a motorcycle towards the police station, but before they got far, the other man was set free.
When his family received the first call about his arrest around 5:30 p.m. on the same day, his distraught mother, rushed to the police headquarters in Ilorin with a friend but was told that Abdulqodir could not be bailed that night as the complainant who had filed a petition against him had to be present.
Around 10 p.m., police called Abdulqodir’s sister to bail him; she couldn’t make it that late. An hour later, they called again, saying he was at the general hospital.
“The officers who called my two sisters gave different accounts. One officer claimed he died in his cell, while another said it happened at the hospital. When we arrived at the station, they delayed us, telling us to return by 9 a.m. But before we got home, they called us back.
“At the SCID office, the Assistant Commissioner of Police fed us a vague story, saying he had left my brother sitting on a bench the previous night, only to return in the morning to hear that he had hanged himself. The room was barely six feet high but Abdulqodir himself was over six feet tall. The police told us he knelt down to hang himself, but we did not believe that,” the brother of the deceased said.
Oladimeji recounted finding a streak of bloodstains on both the wall and the tiles, right where his brother was made to sit. He was ‘tortured,’ he said.
Meanwhile, when The ICIR requested for the video of the bloodstain, the brother declined to share it, only allowing the reporter to watch on his video. In the footage seen by The ICIR, traces of bloodstain were sighted on the bench and the tiles of the supposed police corridor where he was first kept after his arrest.
“We were horrified when we got to the mortuary. My brother’s body had been operated on; his thighs had been cut open without any family member’s consent. His face and nose bore bruises, and when we asked what had happened, they gave weak excuses,” he added.
Other family members, including Oladimeji, explained that the deceased, who is a father of two daughters, did not have motive to commit suicide, as the money had been raised and did not show any sign of depression or weakness prior to the incident.
He further explained that although the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, visited them to sympathise and pledged to probe the controversies surrounding his death, they have no answers on if the erring officers have been fished and punished.
When The ICIR contacted the state police PRO for an update, she said the case had been transferred to Abuja.
A Pattern of abuse: extortion and harassment
Abdul (first name only), a University of Ilorin graduate, recounted multiple encounters.
On September 20, 2024, two men claiming to be officers from the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) of A Division o forced entry into his apartment, ransacked it, and damaged his TV and lamp, using a blank paper as a “warrant.”
When they knocked he opened the door but resisted the initial attempt of the officers to enter his house.
“I asked them for a search warrant, but they produced a blank piece of paper. There was no name, no crime stated and nothing was on it. That was when I knew something was off. They had no real reason to be there,” he said.
The officers, however, forced their way inside. “They searched everything-my wardrobe, my soap, my bathing sponge. They even started writing down things like ‘soap’ on the empty search warrant they brought,” he explained.
Accused of cybercrime despite no evidence, he was coerced into transferring N51,000 to an account the provided for his freedom or risks arrest and detention.
A pattern of harrasment
This wasn’t Abdul’s first ordeal. In August 2021, four plainclothes officers scaled his fence, forced entry, and demanded N1 million. He spent a night in detention until an acquaintance intervened, securing his release for N100,000.
“I was inside my house, when my generator suddenly went off. I thought it was a power issue, so I stepped outside to check. As soon as I opened the door, four men in plainclothes forced their way in. They banged the door so hard that it hit my head. My mouth swelled instantly.
“They didn’t have a warrant, just ID cards,” he said.
“The officers couldn’t provide any evidence against me,” he explained. “But they still extorted N100,000 before letting me go.”
This incident is not peculiar to Abdul, a graduate of University of Ilorin, Olarewaju who only wants his first name published, stated that his experience with the Kwara police dated back to 2016 when he gained admission. He lived in Oke Odo, a school area where he said the police had tagged as a ‘red zone’ for internet fraudsters. He said in 2022, he had just come home from Katsina State where he did his NYSC when Police in a Camry hit the bike he and his friend were on carrying them to a mall around Tanke junction.
He, together with his friend and the bike man, fell into a deep gutter. He named the leader of the police squad who hit him as Asa, who he said is notorious for his violent behaviour against the students in that area.
He thought the officers would leave them after falling in the gutter but to his surprise they followed them with beating. His phone was collected and that of his friend for a quick search.
“I showed them my NYSC portal but my friend, who is still a student, tried to show them the school portal but because he was using iPhone 13, he was bundled inside the car.
“I had to call his sister and went to the station in front of the state sharia court where he was kept. We paid in cash to secure his bail,” he said.
Another resident, Abdul Afeez, showed stated that he had to pay N80,000 when him and his friend had an encounter with the police.
In 2024, Punch newspaper reported that 2,421 complaints of misconduct were filed against personnel of the Nigeria Police Force between 2021 and the first quarter of 2024. These misconducts includes harassment, extortion, unlawful arrests, unjust detentions, and even killings of citizens. However, the true number of complaints may be significantly higher, as many incidents go unreported.
Harassment cripples tricycle riders’ business
Students of Kwara polytechnic, being one of the most targeted groups, often lead to disruption of tricycle and motorcycle riders around Sango, Oyun, Agric and Polytechnic axis of Ilorin.
Although these riders are not the primary targets of the police, their businesses suffer significant disruptions whenever officers conduct their indiscriminate arrests.
The students, who are frequent passengers, have become wary of stepping out. This led to a decline in patronage for the transport operators.
“For instance, some of these students would always ask us before entering our tricycle if police were on the road, and once we told them they are doing ‘stop and search’ somewhere, they would back off because even during exams the officers would keep them waiting until they pay them,” one of the riders, Abu Muhammad said.
When students take Keke rides, the journey, according to sources, is often fraught with tension. They noted officers frequently stopped tricycles, causing panic among passengers, and some students, fearing arrest, abruptly abandoned the trip mid-way.
“Anytime some of these students see police officers or checkpoints, they will just jump out of the Keke.
“There was one student who was hit by a car last year when he jumped out of Keke because of the police. So, whenever this happens it affects our business as we won’t be able to collect money from them,” he added.
Also, another rider, Tunde, explained that the extortion of students who patronised them have been affecting their business.
“What the students do now is to send people to market to get them what they need. They every send us too sometimes just to evade the police checkpoints on the road.
“From polytechnic to post office, you can meet like three police checkpoints waiting to stop us and extort those students. It’s now common, that affects our business a lot,” he added.
This is the same position of other tricycle drivers The ICIR spoke with.
More students at risk
Police harassment in school environments has reportedly led some students to transfer institutions.
Rosheedat, a University of Ilorin student, and her friend were stopped by police one evening in 2024 while on their way from their hostel in Tanke to grab a meal at Item 7 in Sanrab.
“They asked if we were students, and we said yes. We even opened our school portals to prove it,” Rosheedah recalled, adding that, “Then they were like we would follow them to the station, we literally begged them.”
Despite proving their student status, they were asked to step down from the bike and driven far from where they were picked up, their phones searched, and bank apps opened.
“You won’t believe they drove us from Sanrab to almost Sobi at night,” she stated, “They checked our phones, and they opened our bank apps. My friend had about N50,000 in his account, and they told him to send the whole amount. I had N27,000 in my account, they collected N25,000 from me.”
Rosheedat did not provide payment evidence, stating transactions were overridden and she will need to get a bank statement.
“Thank God one man offered us a ride. They even threatened to kill us that day. I was literally crying because I was scared and they were like if I kept crying they’ll kill us and there’s nothing anybody could do about it. I didn’t stop crying though my friend kept consoling me,” she stated.
For Rosheedah’s friend, this wasn’t the first time he had also been harassed and extorted by the police in Kwara state.
“They had extorted him so many times that he finally decided to leave. He transferred to Unilag because he couldn’t take it anymore,” she said.
Illegal detentions: the ordeal of Mukaila Habeebullah
Mukaila Habeebullah was arrested in a raid that happened around 8:40pm on December 5, 2024, in Oko-Olowo after using a public toilet.
Despite identifying himself as a law student and telling them his mother’s shop is nearby shop, he, alongside two others were handcuffed and thrown in the police van.
“Before the arrest, I asked the police politely the reason for the arrest and they were unable to give a reason, they were just trying to handcuff me. Thereafter, I shouted, calling my mom because the place was not far from her shop.
“When the pressure was too much, I angrily told them to tell me what exactly my offence was because I am a law student. On hearing that, one of them slapped me like twice from behind and the other one said he would blow a tear gas,” he said.
Despite his protest and that of his mother, he was taken to G-Division Oloje Police Station, where he spent the night in detention without food.
He explained that the following morning, an officer known as ‘Owo Eye’ taunted him further that he will be prosecuted but there was no real intention to take the case to court.
Habeebullah said his release came only after his brothers arrived and paid N15,500 for bail.
“I was assaulted, unlawfully detained from that night till they came for my bail at exactly 11:09 am next day. Of course, they collected N15,500 for the bail,” he said.
Although his money was subsequently returned after lodging a complaint with the Kwara police command, he noted that his experience in custody shouldn’t have happened.
“We were nine in the cell. Despite the fact that I barely spent 24 hours in the cell, the experience was unbearable, and I pray not to find myself in such situations again.
“First of all, I couldn’t sleep because we didn’t eat anything till dawn and we were urinating and defecating in the cell without water to flush or clean ourselves,” he narrated.
Legal expert bemoans police rights abuse, say it’s illegal
Human rights lawyer Mujeeb Abdulwasiu condemned the police’s unlawful targeting of individuals based on appearance (luxurious cars, tattoos, dreadlocks).
He noted that while the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and Police Act permit arrests on “reasonable suspicion,” officers misinterpret this subjectively.
He stressed that the law provides for a suspect’s right to silence and legal representation, which is often denied.
“This style of arrest receives no pat in the back from the law. But unfortunately, what the officers do is to give a subjective interpretation to the section 3 and 18 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and section 24 of the Police Act which permits them to arrest when there is reasonable suspicion that an individual has committed or is about to commit a crime.
Speaking the law that empowers the police to carry out search, he stressed that “where a search is to be conducted on a person or thing, the Police officer may do so with or without a search warrant by virtue of section 29 of the Police Act.
“However the power doesn’t extend search of phones or bags to gain access to their emails, chat applications, text applications, call history, contacts, accessories.”
Abdulwasiu highlighted that many police officers violate constitutional rights by failing to uphold the right to silence and access to legal representation after an arrest. These practices, he explained, not only undermine individual freedoms but also open the door to unlawful searches and detentions.
Kwara Police responds to concerns over human rights abuses
The Kwara State Police command spokesperson Ejire-Adeyemi Toun, stated that officers are consistently reminded to conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times, particularly when engaging with the masses.
“We contact and emphasise civility and professionalism at all times, and we hold our officers to these standards,” Adetoun said, assuring the public that any officer found to be acting unprofessionally would face internal disciplinary actions.
Regarding specific cases, including those of Suleiman and Jimoh Abdulqodir, Adetoun confirmed that both have been transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department. She assured that the police force is committed to addressing such incidents thoroughly and that appropriate steps are being taken.
When questioned about “stop and search” activities, Adetoun insisted that police officers are strategically positioned in various locations to maintain overall security, not targeting any specific group or area.
“There is police presence everywhere, and officers conduct operations such as stop and search at specific points or locations based on the need for security. This is not intended to target any particular area but to ensure the general security of all citizens.”
Also commenting on cases of extortion within the force, Adetoun reiterated that any officer found engaging in such practices would be investigated. “I always encourage people to report extortion. If such information reaches me, it will be acted upon accordingly,” she stated.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M