Sanni Abubakar, who witnessed the death of Remo Stars Football Club player, Tiyamiyu Kazeem on Saturday, February 22, 2020, says the police lied about how his friend was killed at the hands of personnel of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, had told the world that Kazeem died after he jumped off a moving police truck while attempting to evade arrest and interrogation.

Oyeyemi also said Kazeem was arrested for wearing army fatigues. 

“A police inspector attached to Zonal Intervention Squad, Obada-Oko, in Abeokuta, was said to have received information about the deceased that he was always putting on military apparel knowing fully well that he was not a military personnel.

“Based on the information, the inspector went to Sagamu and saw the deceased putting on a military cap consequent upon which he got him arrested," the police spokesperson said.

A different tale

Abubakar who was arrested alongside Kazeem, said the police version of events is a fabrication.

Abubakar said Kazeem (aka Kaka) was crushed by a hit-and-run driver on the Sagamu-Abeokuta expressway because he was pushed out from a police car. 

“We were going to his (Kazeem) father’s house, when he parked at Ita-Oba Roundabout, Sagamu, to buy engine oil for his car,” Punch quotes Abubakar as saying. 

“After he left, the SARS guys parked in front of the car. They started interrogating me. They asked who I was, what I was doing there and who owned the car. I told them the car belonged to my friend, and they asked where he was. I told them that he went to buy something.

“They took my phone and my friend’s phone from me; they did not explain anything to me. The SARS guy handed the phones to another guy in the Toyota Sienna.

“Afterwards, my friend returned from where he went to buy the engine oil; they grabbed him and pushed him inside their Sienna and started driving. They said they were taking us to their headquarters."

Abubakar explained that one of the officers drove Kazeem’s car and trailed the police operational vehicle where his friend was held.

He added that after the vehicles passed the area command’s office at Sagamu, he queried the cop, who insisted that they were going to the SARS headquarters.

The victim’s friend said after passing the Sagamu Interchange, the policemen parked at a junction and continued to interrogate them.

He said the SARS officer with him (Abubakar) opened the boot of the deceased’s car and when he (Abubakar) attempted to get out of the vehicle, the cop threatened to shoot him dead.

“Then they started driving again. I just saw the door of their Sienna open; they pushed my friend out of the moving car onto the road.

“A car coming behind us hit him. After hitting him from the lane, Kaka jumped to the other lane. I came out of the car, shouting and crying for help.

“We put him inside his car because they did not want to put him in their vehicle. We took him to a nearby hospital, but he was rejected.

“They asked us to take him to the General Hospital, Owode. When we got to the general hospital, we could not find the Sienna vehicle where the other SARS officers were; they had run away.

“I then saw the SARS guy that drove us making calls and asking his colleagues to come that he was in the hospital. I observed that he was moving towards the gate and I ran after him.

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“We dragged each other as I insisted that he was not going anywhere and he must kill me like they killed my friend.

“The hospital workers came out and held him for me, while I went to call the police, the parents of Kaka and our manager," he added.

Reforming SARS

A police unit notorious for extra-judicial killings, extortion, human rights violations, profiling of young men and disproportionate use of force, SARS has attracted the ire of Nigerians for years. 

Widespread calls for its reform led the presidency to act in 2018, but critics say the directive from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to the Inspector General of Police changed little and made SARS even more brutal and barbaric in its operations.

Protests have been staged in Sagamu, the town where Kazeem died. Reports say police stray bullets killed three of the protesters.