Wife: Police Tortured My Husband To Death; No, He Committed Suicide —Police

The mysterious death of a furniture maker, Mr. Ibrahim Athahiru, 42 in the cell at the Ikoyi Police Station, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, has continued to raise dust as the wife of the deceased, Blessing, alleged that her husband was tortured to death by the police. But the police insist that he committed suicide inside the cell with a sponge.

Blessing Athahiru, 29, a mother of two and the family of the deceased rejected police claim and called on the authorities to investigate the death of their bread winner in police cell.

P.M.NEWS investigations revealed that Athahiru was arrested at his Lacowe area residence in Ajah on 14 October, 2011 for allegedly swindling an Italian woman, Catarina, of N40 million. A week after his arrest, Athahiru died in police custody. The police claimed that he committed suicide in the cell with a sponge on 21 October. Before his death, Athahiru had complained to his wife of extreme torture in the hands of his interrogators at the Ikoyi Police Station.

Investigations revealed further that Athahiru was invited by the Italian woman to get a warehouse in Ajah for business purposes, which his family said he did by purchasing a piece of land for N12 million.

It was gathered that the Italian also gave him money to buy land for a filling station in the area and he purchased two plots of land for this purpose.

Trouble, however, started when the woman decided to inspect the warehouse and the site for the filling station and discovered that there was nothing on ground. The plot of land said to have been bought by the deceased was disputed by the owners who denied knowing the deceased.

Suspecting foul play, the Italian reported the matter to the police at Ikoyi and the younger brother of Athahiru was arrested when the police did not find him at home.

On arriving home, Athahiru was told of his brother’s arrest and he went to the police station where he was promptly arrested and his younger brother freed.

Blessing alleged that her husband was tortured by the police in an attempt to force him to disclose where he kept the millions of Naira allegedly given to him by the Italian woman.

Mrs. Athahiru said during her visits to the police station, her husband would narrate how he was beaten and tortured by his interrogators and beg her to contact his family to look for money to bail him out.

P.M.NEWS also gathered that the man who sold a piece of land to Athahiru for N12 million was arrested by the police, detained for two days and released on bail after paying some money.

Blessing, who hails from Akwa Ibom State, disclosed further that she saw blood coming out of her husband’s nose and anus during one of her visits to him in his cell.

“At first, when I got to the police station, I was not allowed to see him but when I saw him, they have beaten him seriously. He said he was being tortured and was bleeding from the anus. I decided to go for a lawyer but he objected to this,” she said.

Blessing added that his husband asked him to look for money to get him out of detention and that the family was able to raise N500,000 which was allegedly collected by the police, yet, her husband was not released.

“My husband died in the cell as a result of torture by the police. Why should the police lie that he committed suicide with a sponge in the cell. It is a lie. He died exactly one week after he was arrested by the police,” she stated.

She called on the authorities to probe the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death and bring the culprits to book. The remains of Athahiru are still deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH mortuary. It is not certain whether an autopsy has been conducted or not, two months after he died.

Reacting to P.M.NEWS enquiries on the death of Athahiru in her cell, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ikoyi Police Station, Aisha Haruna, a Superintendent of Police, confirmed on phone that Athahiru committed suicide in the cell with a sponge.

She said there was nothing to hide about the incident, adding that he was found dead in the cell. She asked our reporter to seek more clarifications from the Police Public Relations Office, PPRO, Samuel Jinadu, who also confirmed that Athahiru committed suicide in the cell.

Police sources at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba confirmed that the matter had been transferred to the department and that investigation was ongoing.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga