Two men, Denis Odachi and Sermon Emmanuel, who hail from Benue State and worked as drivers to a prominent politician in Rivers State, have narrated how they were allegedly detained at Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Port-Harcourt for seventeen days on the orders of the politician.
The special police unit was disbanded by the federal government following protests across the country which called for an end to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
One of the drivers told our reporter in an interview that they were returning from Eleme Junction where they had gone to get petrol for their boss, when they had an accident saying that they were held down by the relatives of the victim in the accident until their boss arrived.
Odachi, who spoke with our reporter, said that the accident occurred at night in May and that they were released only after their boss had paid for hospital bill of the victim who was hospitalized.
He however said on getting to the hotel of their boss in Port-Harcourt, he had invited the police who arrested them and had taken them to SARS headquarters in Rukpokwu over an allegation that they had wanted to sell his car.
He said that the politician who is a former candidate for House of Representatives election in 2011 had told the SARS operatives to detain them as long as he wanted and said that they nearly died of starvation as their relatives were unaware they were being detained at SARS.
He however said help came their way when a human rights organization intervened in the matter and had got in touch with the then Commander of SARS in the state who had ordered their release.
Odachi said that he would file a petition at the judicial commission of inquiry set up by the state government to look into the activities of the disbanded SARS and had expressed hope that he would get justice.
