Tajudeen Abdulraheem, A 66-year-old man has accused men of the Nigerian Police Intelligence Response Team(IRT), of allegedly detaining him illegally.

The sexagenarian also accused the police of torturing and extorting from him. in the Government Reservation Area of Ikeja, Lagos State.

Abdulraheem, a haulage and logistics operator told PUNCH Metro that he was called by an IRT officer, on Saturday, February 22, 2020.

According to him, the officer who pretended to be a customer told him over the telephone that he wanted to rent a warehouse for his goods.

Abdulraheem said he and the assumed customer reached an arrangement on the time they were to meet on that same day.

Prior to Abdulraheem meeting with his supposed customer, he went to present the customer’s request with the manager of a warehouse in the Sanya area of the Surulere.

The 66-year-old invited the supposed customer to the warehouse to carry out an inspection, however, the man persuaded him to meet him at a hotel.

But when he got to the hotel, he was apprehended and taken to the IRT office in Ikeja.

The IRT officers were led by one inspector Festus.

According to the sexagenarian, he was kept and tortured at the IRT office for 10 days.

He also alleged that the operatives collected ₦450,000 from him while restricting him from reaching his family, let alone, his lawyer.

“When I got to the 34 Hotel in Sanya, the customer and his team members started interrogating me. It was at that point that I knew that they were policemen, Abdulraheem said.

“They asked if I knew one Tunde, and I said yes because he is one of my competitors in the haulage business. They asked for Tunde’s address but I told them I didn’t know it.

“At first, Festus, the policeman, who led the team, said Tunde collected N1m from him and ran away; later he said Tunde stole a truck laden with cocoa and worth N19m.

“My phone was seized and I was bundled into their vehicle and driven to the IRT office in Ikeja GRA, where I was detained for 10 days and denied access to my family.

“While in detention, they didn’t allow me to write a statement. I was hardly fed and stripped naked.

“I was tortured to confess to a crime I am innocent of. I know the policemen when I see them, he said.

“The officers used a baton to hit my joints. When the torture became too much, I didn’t know when I started saying that they should kill me rather than force me to confess to what I didn’t do.”

He added that he gave his wife’s number to a cellmate who was released before him. The helped to contact his wife that was how his whereabouts was known by his family.

He said, “I had to give my wife’s number to the cellmate, who informed her of my location. If not for that, my family wouldn’t have known my whereabouts.

It was when my wife started pestering them that they allowed me to contact my lawyer, who assisted in securing my bail.

“Aside the N420,000 that the policemen collected from me while I was in their custody, they also collected N30,000 from my wife before releasing me on March 2.”

According to Abdulraheem’s wife, Funke, a search party was arranged for her husband when his location became unknown.

She said, “I was scared and blamed people for his disappearance. I called his colleagues, who told me that they didn’t know his whereabouts. He just told me that he wanted to attend an important meeting and didn’t return.

“When I didn’t hear from him, I went to report at the Ojo Police Station, where I wrote a statement. The station radioed other stations to know if he was with them.

“On the sixth day, an unknown person called to inform me that my husband was being detained at the IRT office in Ikeja.

“I went there to find out and a policeman, Festus, told me to pay N50,000 for his release. But I pleaded with him to collect N30,000 before he was released.”

It is wrong for them to have arrested him and deny him access to his family,” she said.

The counsel for Abdulraheem, Saidi Sanni, said he had appealed the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.

Saidi stated that he would establish a legitimate lawsuit against the police to get justice for his client.

“I intend to challenge this ungodly act in the court. We are instituting legal action for breach of fundamental human right against the Nigeria Police and Inspector Festus,” Sanni stated.

However, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, told PUNCH Metro, “I can’t confirm the veracity of that story for now. I will liaise with the IRT commander to get the facts.”