I Was Locked In SARS Cell Next To A Shrine, Witness Tells Panel
A witness, Godwin Ukude, arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Tusday, narrated before the Delta State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Police Brutality and Ex-judicial Killings, the sequence of events leading to the disappearance of Counsellor Ikporo arrested in August 2019.
Counsellor Ikporo was last seen on August 2019 after he was allegedly arrested by SARS team alongside the witness and another victim.
Recall that Counsellor’s father, Christopher Ikporo, had lodged a petition with the Delta Judicial Panel of Inquiry on police brutality about his missing son.
Ukude, a bricklayer, said that on August 8, 2019 after close of work he was arrested by a SARS team alongside Counsellor and another friend and taken to SARS office at Issele-Azagba in a black Lexus jeep where they were beaten with rods.
Ukude identified the SARS team leader as Ijeogu, a native of Agbor and described him as a light complexioned officer with a white beard who walked with a limp
Ukude said the bungalow where he and his friends were incarcerated was next to that a shrine, adding that goat meat was served to inmates in the night every day.
His words, “It was not a police station. In the bush behind SARS office was a shrine. At 1.00 a.m every night, goat meat is brought to us. I didn’t partake in the eating because I suspected it was used as rituals.”
– The Nation
