‘Go To Court!’ – Police Tell Woman Who Claims Her Husband Was Detained By SARS Since 2017

A petitioner, Mrs. John Alozie, has been asked by a counsel for the Nigeria Police Force to go back to court and report that the Force had refused to obey its orders regarding the arraignment of her husband who she had alleged was arrested and detained by SARS operatives since 2017.

Counsel to the Police, James Idachaba, stated this while reading his written address before the Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violation by the defunct SARS and other Units of the NPF sitting in Abuja.

The National Human Rights Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that “Mrs. Nnenna Alozie, a petitioner in the matter has testified before the panel that her husband was arrested by SARS operatives in their home in Lekki, Lagos state and he was taken to Akwuzu in Anambra state on June 15 2017, stating that all attempts to see him or know his whereabouts has been unfruitful.”

In her petition, she had accused the police of unlawfully detaining her husband since 2017 without prosecution in court, adding that the SARS operatives also seized his two cars and documents during the arrest.

“Mrs. Alozie told the panel that the police refused to obey 3 consecutive court orders since the arrest of her husband in 2017. The orders made by the courts is to produce Mr. Alozie either dead or alive,” the NHRC stated.

The panel had earlier directed that certified true copies of the court judgment be produced for perusal.

At the resumed sitting, Idachaba said that since the complainant claimed that there was court verdict on her case, it would amount to abuse of court process for the panel to hear her petition.

He argued that she should “rather go back to the court that passed the Judgment which (she claimed) the police has violated and not to come before the panel.”

After hearing his argument, the panel adjourned the matter “for report”.