Fellow Nigerians, I have just been released from unmerited detention, at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Osun State Police Command over sponsored allegation of alleged involvement in the June 14, 2007 explosion at Abere State Secretariat.

Three gun-weilding security agents led the notorious ASP Ayuba Adekanle invaded my law chambers at about 4.30pm on Tuesday 29 April, 2008 and whisked me away to their interrogation centre where I was subjected to hours of excruciating and humiliating questioning.

I was asked to explain the reason behind my decision to appear in a matter involving Lukman Lawal, of the Action Congress (AC) who was later arrested by the police for allegedly recording the illegal re-thumb printing of ballot papers by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on May 5, 2007 long after the conclusion of the last general election.

My interrogator accrued me of securing bail for Lukman Lawal and aiding his access to justice and the defence of his constitutional rights. I agreed that I secured bail for my client under my firm believe in the rule of law and obedience to the oath I took as a legal practitioner.

I was also asked whether I knew that a medical report which explained the absence of Lukman at subsequent hearing after his bail was alleged to be fake and I replied that it was my junior partner who went to court that day and would be in the best position to explain what happened. The report I received was that as soon as my partner got to the court that day, he was confronted with a medical report and without having a copy, the proceedings went on smoothly and the matter was adjourned to enable the accused person to appear in court.

The bail granted Lukman was secured and perfected at the Ile-Ife Magistrate Court presided over by Chief Magistrate Ayo Oyebiyi who was later transformed to Ilesa Magistrate District.

The adjournment consequent upon the medical report was taken by magistrate Makanjuola who replaced Oyebiyi in Ile-Ife.

My interrogator again asked me what my interest was in asking for Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the record of proceeding at the trial of Richard Abayomi Adesanmi, the arrested survivor of the Abere exploxion. ASP Ayuba Adekunle and his team wanted to know my interest in the matter, who briefed me to ask for the certified true copies when I did not appear originally in the matter.

I must tell you, gentlemen of the press, that the CTC which we applied for on behalf of my client Engineer Rauf  Aregbesola was for us to determine the level of complicating of the police and officials of the Osun State Government in desperately attempting to implicate an innocent man in the unfortunate explosion saga.

CTCs are the right of every Nigerian citizens who is interested in any matter.

Academicians, researchers, investigators or any interested member of the public have the right to demand for CTCs so as to inform themselves of the true position of any public institutional matter including the court of law. There is no law that makes application for CTCs an offence.

We have waited in vain for the CTC which we applied for consequent upon which I protested to the Chief Registrar of the Osun State High Court who promised that he would prefer that the matter is handled administratively. He pleaded with me not to proceed with any plans to ask for the order of mandamus on the non-release of the CTC.

It is surprising that ASP Ayuba Adekunle and his team of interrogators have now re-defined Nigerian law to the extent that application for CTC has become an offence against the state for which an attorney at law must be arrested detained and interrogated. 

ASP Ayuba Adekunle also asked me question on my personal life inquiry to know whether it was true that I was building an edifice and what the source of funds for the project was.

I have been at the bar for 14 long years and my practice has been largely successful. I am not a frustrated man. I do not have any other profession except the law.

I am not a bribe-taker and I do not engage in sleazy practices that Ayuba would hold on to as a tool of interrogation. My bank accounts are available for public scrutiny. I challenge ASP Ayuba Adekunle to do same.

ASP Ayuba Adekunle also asked me of an alleged N100,000.00 lodged into my account to destabilize Osun State. Without explaining his connection with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration, ASP Ayuba Adekunle exposed himself as a policeman doing the bidding of the PDP forgetting that he is a professional.

ASP Ayuba Adekunle went on to ask me whether I hold any office in the Action Congress (AC).

He also wanted to know who briefed me and pays my bills.

ASP Ayuba Adekunle then asked me whether I was aware that between May 14 and June 14, 2007, a committee allegedly met.     I replied that I was not aware of any committee meeting when all my leaders were declared wanted over the political crises in Ilesa and Osogbo.

He asked me whether I was aware of the June 14, 2007 explosion all replied yes. He also asked me about where I was at the time and I told him I was in Osogbo.

On a final note, he asked me why I appear at the arraingnment of Chief Magistrate Ayo Oyebiyi representing the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADL) as a party interested in the prosecution of the magistrate.

My reply to him was that I have been a member since the inception of NADL and as a Lawyer, it is the duty of ASP Ayuba Adekunle to find where the NADL secretariat is located.

In his rapid attempt to externalize the explosion issue, ASP Ayuba Adekunle also asked me that I allegedly bought a parcel of land and built a house on it for a High Court Judge. I denied any knowledge of this and challenged him to compare my income to that of a serving judge and see how I cold have funded the project. How do I fund the building project of another person when I have not even completed mine.     

Gentlemen of the press, from my interrogation, you will see that ASP Ayuba Adekunle has surrendered himself to be used as a tool of oppression and intimidation of the opponents of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

If ASP Ayuba Adekunle intends to climb to higher ranks of the Nigeria police with this phantom explosion saga, he has failed. He will not succeed. Those who are using the apparatus of state power to haunt the opposition Action Congress into silence and submission using this police officer are threatening democracy, the rule of law and national stability. They are attempting to drive Nigeria back to the Abacha era where the voice of dissent was repressed, hunted, jailed or driven into exile.

You can draw your inferences from the interrogation I went through and decipher what the intention of ASP Ayuba Adekunle and his sponsors are.

Deliberately criminalising the opposition so as to avoid the impending judgment of God on the electoral larceny committed on April 14, 2007 is the major aim of the clamp-down on AC, its leaders, the bar and the bench so as to suspend the 1999 constitution and give way to MARTIAL RULE in Osun State. It will not happen. 

GBENGA AKANO is a Barrister & Solicitor

Robot  # 1 | 02.05.2008 15:45

Fellow Nigerians, I have just been released from unmerited detention, at the State Criminal Inves...Read the full article.

Bode Eluyera  # 2 | 02.05.2008 17:24

What a gruesome story you have told Barrister. Undoubtedly, this is even worse than the British Airway's inhuman treatment of Mr. Omotade that more than 2000 signatures have been collected to protest. How I just wished that NVS will start collecting signatures to protect this gross abuse of authority and office by that garrison retired but not tired governor of my state. Right from time immemoral, I have been against the election or appointment of military officers into public posts simply because you can take the monkey out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of the monkey. Despite all the overseas degrees that guy acquired, the military mentality is still in him. You can NEVER remove it. The Nigerian army, a product of which Oyinlola is, is the most corrupt, incompetent, visionless and morally bankrupt government institution. Please, NEVER give up! I know it's not easy. We rely on people like you to uphold and defend the rights of the weak and the trodden. We still have a long way to go. You might want to link up with your colleagues for support. And I think that it will be a good idea too if you can get this published in the newspaper. That will definitely give you case a better standing and bigger audience. It will also reduce the intimidation and abuse of authority on the part of Oyinlola and his thugs in military uniform. Oyinlola is serving his second and last term in office. One day, just like Obj, he will hand over power. He will live that office and become an ordinary indigene of Osun state. I can assure you that all these people that are being used by obasanjo to oppress, suppress, intimidate, rob and murder the sons and daughters of Oodua will not go scott free. They will all be brought to book. I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST, AND PLEASE NEVER GIVE UP.

Mikky jaga  # 3 | 03.05.2008 11:16

That ASP Ayuba is a symbol of Nigerian Police Officers. Very corrupt and willing to sell even their mama for a wad of Naira notes. They collude with corrupt politicians to rig elections, they allowed themselves to be used to repress the voices of dissent, they aid and abet criminals to loot and cover up their tracks. When eventually democracy collapses, they join the military men to continue their oppresion. Any reform of Nigeria that leaves the police intact will just be scratching the problem on the surface. In short, the Nigerian Police is the symptom of all that is wrong in Nigeria: Corruption, Nepotism, Tribalism, etc.

Kabikala  # 4 | 05.05.2008 04:40

The Nigerian Police have been known to exhibit all the negative symptoms of a sick institution. I however don't believe its maladies are incurable. It only needs a purposeful and determined leader to bring that change. All we need is a systematic action to deal with a few bad eggs, and everyone else will fall into line. A few years back, some junior Police Officers in Osun State accused their superior officers of forcing them to extort money from motorists on the highway. They were promptly arrested and dismissed. Nothing was done to investigate the veracity of their claims. No kind of punishment was meted out to to the offending superior officers. Some two weeks ago, viewers on Silverbird Television watched as a Police Inspector named Friday Igbinoba told the nation of specific details of dirty dealings by the Police hierarchy in Ogun State. And what did the Police authorities do? He was promptly labelled an insane person and was hunted down and eventually arrested. His allegations were dismissed without even bothering to investigate them. Only God knows if he will ever come out of detention alive. In another instance, Ayo Fayose has a murder charge hanging on his head. Evidences were gathered including a security report by some government security agencies which implicated him in several murders committed during his tenure as Ekiti State Governor. His trial was set to begin. And what did the Inspector General of Police do? He issued a report clearing him of the murder of Tunde Omojola without actually telling the nation who killed that young man. Just to frustrate the trial. What all these means is that the redemption of the Nigeria Police Force must start from the top. If the President had investigated any of these felonious actions and dealt with perpetrators, others will be more careful. But when the likelihood of paying for such devilish actions by the members of the Police is remote, evil-doers are more emboldened to continue, and even raise the bar of their criminalities. At the end of the day, it does not really matter who the IG is. I believe it is the president that has the key to bringing forth a new Nigeria Police Force. We all saw how all the past IGs under Obasanjo were too quick to do his bidding. But none had equalled the overwhelming sycophancyof the present IG, who did not express a willingness to die for Nigeria, but will gladly die for Umar Musa Yar'Adua!