A member of the National Youth Service Corps, Alli
Bello, has threatened to sue the State Security Service for allegedly
detaining him for nine days.
Alli, who is observing his one year national service
in Lagos State, also said he would sue Mr. Kolawole James, for causing
his detention after he accused him of robbing him.
The corps member said he was quizzed by the
operatives of the SSS on September 17 and detained at the Lagos office
of the agency for five days and at the Abuja office for four days.
Alli, a graduate of Mathematics, University of
Ibadan, said he was shocked on September 21 at the SSS Asokoro office
when
James said he robbed him.
He said, “On September 17, three SSS operatives
arrested me in Agege area of Lagos and drove me down to their office in
Shangisha.
“When I was taken to Abuja SSS office, James who I
had never met in my life accused me of robbing him at the Abuja Airport
area after taking him and an Alhaji on a ride.
“He accused me of being the leader of a three-man
armed robbery gang that dispossessed him of N250, 000, an iPAD, a
BlackBerry phone, ATM cards and other personal effects.”
Alli said he was rattled by the allegations as he had neither been to Abuja nor driven a car all his life.
He added that on August 15, the day the he
purportedly robbed James, he was at his place of primary assignment
where he taught students preparing for General Certificate of Education
Mathematics lessons and also slept at his Lagos residence.
He said it was discovered that he was a victim of
mistaken identity when James claimed he added him on BlackBerry
Messenger and got his pictures from there.
He said, “During examinations and re-examinations it
was revealed that James who had worked with my sister-in-law, Toyin
Bello, in Lagos was once a contact on my BlackBerry phone which she
(Toyin) gave to me.
“It was realised that James must have backed up
contacts on his stolen BB phone because he also claimed to have sent me
friendship request which I obliged.
“All the pictures he gave to the SSS, including my
name were culled from my BB contact. He also used Facebook to get my
profile.”
Alli said he was released on bail on September 26,
after one of the SSS operatives who claimed to be the head of the legal
team, said he did not want an innocent man to suffer.
He said, “After releasing me on bail, they neither
apologised nor formally vindicated me of all the charges. As a matter of
fact, they said my detention was only part of their normal
investigation process.
“Throughout the nine days I was in detention, I was
made to undergo emotional and psychological torture and treated like a
common criminal for what I know nothing about.
“Besides, I teach as a corps member, and I am a role
model to my pupils and by the action of the SSS they have tagged me as a
criminal and tarnished my image. I demand that I be cleared of all
these charges by the SSS.”
Toyin said all efforts to convince James that the incident was a pure mix up proved abortive.
“I was even the one that sent to him the PIN of his lost BlackBerry phone when he needed it,” she said.
But James, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday, insisted that Alli led the robbery attack on him.
Asked about how he tracked Alli, James said, “I
synchronised the Bold 2 phone that he stole with a Storm BB phone before
the incident happened.
“By virtue of this, as new contacts were entering the
stolen phone I was also getting the request on my Storm BB. Fortunately
for me, I added him in that process and spotted his picture.
“I had a direct confrontation with him and I am not a
child to mistake him for someone else. I am surprised that he succeeded
in deceiving the SSS to grant him bail.”
However, in a petition to the Director-General of the
SSS, Ekpeyong Ita, Alli’s lawyer, Adeniyi Adebisi, said James’phone
synchronisation argument were “fraught and baseless,” adding that it
should be “seriously investigated and diagnosed.”
Adebisi added that the action of the SSS operatives was synonymous with attacking an innocent person.
He said, “Our client’s nine-day detention has caused
him and members of his family serious psychological trauma which they
may not get out of if the record is not put straight now for future
prospects.
“If he is not immediately cleared of this false
allegation, we shall file for the enforcement of his fundamental rights
and sue for damages.”
But, the Lagos State SSS Director, Achu Olayi, said
the operatives of the agency only acted on instruction that Alli should
be arrested and brought to Abuja.
“I don’t have facts about the issue or the offences
he might have committed. Contact our Abuja office for any information
relating to him,” he added.
When asked why he was detained for five days in
Lagos, Olayi said, “We don’t detain people for more than 48 hours and
it’s not in our character to put inconveniences on Nigerians.”
When contacted by one of our correspondents in Abuja,
SSS Deputy Director, Media and Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, said she
was not aware of the case and therefore could not comment on it.
-Punch
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