Daniel Elombah, publisher of Elombah.com, says he and Timothy,
his brother, editor of the online platform, were tortured in police
custody.
Operatives of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) had stormed
the Anambra residence of the Elombahs on January 1.
Six members of the family were arrested.
Narrating his experience via Facebook, the publisher said about
15 fully armed the SARS operatives scaled the gate into his
compound on the day they were arrested.
Daniel explained that the officials ransacked his house before
taking away six adult males, including himself.
According to him, all attempts to inquire the reason for their
arrest proved abortive, as the officials told them that “you’ll be
told at the station”.
“On the 1st day of January 2018, men of the Federal Special
Anti-Armed Robbery Squad, SARS, numbering about 15 and armed to the
teeth stormed our family compound in Edoji Uruagu Nnewi, Anambra
state,” Daniel wrote.
“The men who struck around 5:am on the new year day climbed over
the gate with their ladder and ransacked the entire house. At the
end of the operation, 6 adult male members of the family including
myself were handcuffed, herded into a rickety bus and driven to the
SARS Nnewi office where we were briefly detained.
“Let me emphasise that up till now the Police have not revealed
to me and Izuchukwu our alleged offences.
“No one has informed me why I was abducted from my country home,
handcuffed like a criminal and transported in a bus over a very bad
road for 700 miles to Abuja. Izuchukwu was assaulted, slapped,
punched and beaten.
“We were physically and psychologically tortured and
traumatised!
“From Nnewi, we were driven to the SARS headquarters in Awkuzu,
near Awka. At the SARS state headquarters we were handed over to a
different set of four armed men who were later identified as
officers from the Special Tactical Squad, STS, a crack team of
operatives directly in the office of Nigeria’s Inspector General Of
Police.
“Their team leader explained that the IGP personally ordered our
arrest because my brother Tim Elombah, was accused of publishing an
article on an online media, Elombah.com which article was allegedly
aimed at blackmailing the IGP.
“The STS team leader thereafter released 3 of my brothers who
were told to find their way back home to Nnewi, while the 3 of us
namely: myself, Tim and Izuchukwu Elombah were herded in handcuffs
into another Bus after we were briefly interrogated.
“We left Anambra state and arrived at the STS Abuja office
around 5:00pm. My brother Tim who is also the editor-in-chief
of the online news medium, Elombah.com was grilled for nearly three
hours while I, and Izuchukwu were detained behind the Counter.
“All of us were eventually interrogated separately for several
hours. It thereafter emerged that my brother Tim was accused of
publishing a defamatory article on a website.
“Daniel and Timothy have however denied publishing the said
article, adding that they had no knowledge of the writer.”
He said it took the intervention of a friend of his who is
influential before he was released, but that his brother has
remained in detention.
He also said their arrest caused his family distress, adding
that his mother had been taken to the hospital for high blood
pressure.
“The article titled ‘IGP Ibrahim Idris’s Unending Baggage of
Controversies’ was published as an opinion piece on
opinionnigeria.com, an online medium that was hitherto unknown to
any us. Moreover, the author of the said article was one Ebiowei
Dickson, again a very strange name to the three of us,” he
said.
“My brother, Tim repeatedly denied writing the article which in
any case was NOT published on Elombah.com. Tim also denied knowing
the identity of Ebiowei Dickson.
“Around midnight, my friend, Chief Obunike Ohaegbu who was a
Federal Commissioner used his influence to secure my release and
that of my brother Izuchukwu Elombah, but Tim Elombah remains in
detention.
“No one explained to us the reason for our arrest thereby
throwing the entire family including our aged mother, our wives and
our little children into great distress. Our repeated requests for
the reason for our arrest was met with a terse, ‘you’ll be told at
the station’.
“My mother’s blood pressure shot through the roof and she is
presently undergoing medical treatment. Our children were
traumatised at the sight of gun-toting hefty men that we initially
mistook for armed robbers or kidnappers banging at our doors and
waking up the entire household in the wee hours of the morning of
the new year day.
“My movement is restricted and I’m not allowed to leave the
country. That means that I and my family could not travel back to
London as scheduled to enable our children resume schooling. The
schools resumed on Wednesday 3rd January.”
Daniel Elombah, publisher of Elombah.com, says he and Timothy,
his brother, editor of the online platform, were tortured in police
custody.
Operatives of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) had stormed
the Anambra residence of the Elombahs on January 1.
Six members of the family were arrested.
Narrating his experience via Facebook, the publisher said about
15 fully armed the SARS operatives scaled the gate into his
compound on the day they were arrested.
Daniel explained that the officials ransacked his house before
taking away six adult males, including himself.
According to him, all attempts to inquire the reason for their
arrest proved abortive, as the officials told them that “you’ll be
told at the station”.
“On the 1st day of January 2018, men of the Federal Special
Anti-Armed Robbery Squad, SARS, numbering about 15 and armed to the
teeth stormed our family compound in Edoji Uruagu Nnewi, Anambra
state,” Daniel wrote.
“The men who struck around 5:am on the new year day climbed over
the gate with their ladder and ransacked the entire house. At the
end of the operation, 6 adult male members of the family including
myself were handcuffed, herded into a rickety bus and driven to the
SARS Nnewi office where we were briefly detained.
“Let me emphasise that up till now the Police have not revealed
to me and Izuchukwu our alleged offences.
“No one has informed me why I was abducted from my country home,
handcuffed like a criminal and transported in a bus over a very bad
road for 700 miles to Abuja. Izuchukwu was assaulted, slapped,
punched and beaten.
“We were physically and psychologically tortured and
traumatised!
“From Nnewi, we were driven to the SARS headquarters in Awkuzu,
near Awka. At the SARS state headquarters we were handed over to a
different set of four armed men who were later identified as
officers from the Special Tactical Squad, STS, a crack team of
operatives directly in the office of Nigeria’s Inspector General Of
Police.
“Their team leader explained that the IGP personally ordered our
arrest because my brother Tim Elombah, was accused of publishing an
article on an online media, Elombah.com which article was allegedly
aimed at blackmailing the IGP.
“The STS team leader thereafter released 3 of my brothers who
were told to find their way back home to Nnewi, while the 3 of us
namely: myself, Tim and Izuchukwu Elombah were herded in handcuffs
into another Bus after we were briefly interrogated.
“We left Anambra state and arrived at the STS Abuja office
around 5:00pm. My brother Tim who is also the editor-in-chief
of the online news medium, Elombah.com was grilled for nearly three
hours while I, and Izuchukwu were detained behind the Counter.
“All of us were eventually interrogated separately for several
hours. It thereafter emerged that my brother Tim was accused of
publishing a defamatory article on a website.
“Daniel and Timothy have however denied publishing the said
article, adding that they had no knowledge of the writer.”
He said it took the intervention of a friend of his who is
influential before he was released, but that his brother has
remained in detention.
He also said their arrest caused his family distress, adding
that his mother had been taken to the hospital for high blood
pressure.
“The article titled ‘IGP Ibrahim Idris’s Unending Baggage of
Controversies’ was published as an opinion piece on
opinionnigeria.com, an online medium that was hitherto unknown to
any us. Moreover, the author of the said article was one Ebiowei
Dickson, again a very strange name to the three of us,” he
said.
“My brother, Tim repeatedly denied writing the article which in
any case was NOT published on Elombah.com. Tim also denied knowing
the identity of Ebiowei Dickson.
“Around midnight, my friend, Chief Obunike Ohaegbu who was a
Federal Commissioner used his influence to secure my release and
that of my brother Izuchukwu Elombah, but Tim Elombah remains in
detention.
“No one explained to us the reason for our arrest thereby
throwing the entire family including our aged mother, our wives and
our little children into great distress. Our repeated requests for
the reason for our arrest was met with a terse, ‘you’ll be told at
the station’.
“My mother’s blood pressure shot through the roof and she is
presently undergoing medical treatment. Our children were
traumatised at the sight of gun-toting hefty men that we initially
mistook for armed robbers or kidnappers banging at our doors and
waking up the entire household in the wee hours of the morning of
the new year day.
“My movement is restricted and I’m not allowed to leave the
country. That means that I and my family could not travel back to
London as scheduled to enable our children resume schooling. The
schools resumed on Wednesday 3rd January.”
Read more https://www.nairalaw.com/no-one-has-disclosed-the-reason-sars-abducted-me-elombah-speaks-on-arrest/