Etroo Mensah, 21, was declared missing after the police raided the Ikota, Ajah area of Lagos 3 months ago, precisely on the 14th of March. His mother and elder brother went round all police divisions in Ajah to look for him but didn’t find him. He was
eventually released last Wednesday and had this to say to PUNCH, “On that morning, at about 6am, I was at a shop to buy a tube of toothpaste.
I saw everyone running. I did not run because I had not committed any offence. Suddenly, a man grabbed me from behind, handcuffed me and threatened to shoot me if I ran. They arrested about 40 persons. They had a big bus. They took all of us to the Ajah division and lined us at the station. They took some of us to the Elemoro Police Station. We were in Elemoro for 4 days. That was where I called my brother.
While we spoke, I told him we were arrested by policemen from the Ajah station, I was about telling him I had been taken to Elemoro when a police woman, Juliana Adeniyi, snatched the mobile phone from me. By the following Tuesday, family members had come to bail most of us. It remained about 6 of us inside the cell. I could not reach my family because the police woman did not return my mobile phone.
I did not have their contacts off hand. On that day, we were arraigned at the Tinubu Magistrates’ Court and 4 of us were taken to Ikoyi Prison from there. That was where I had been for 3 months. I am the only Ghanaian. The 3 others also said they were innocent on the matter. In my cell, there were many bedbugs. We were sleeping on a rug. The rug was the home of bugs and they sucked life out of me. I was in cell 06 with 4 other persons.
I met one man inside the prison, named Awolowo, who was nice to me and gave me money sometimes to meet my needs. The meals were not regular, but they were not bad. The 4 of us kept appearing in the court until June 16, when the magistrate declared us acquitted and discharged. I begged for money to pay for my transport fares back to Ajah.”…… bt d police still remains my friend……