A widow, Mrs Loveth Uloko, has prayed the independent investigative panel on violations of rights by defunct SARS and other police units set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to order the police and the Federal Government to pay a compensation of N500 million to her family for the death of her husband, Abraham, Uloko, in the hands of SARS.
Uloko stated this, on Tuesday, at the hearing of the petition she filed before the panel, with the number 2020/IIP-SARS/ABJ/96, alleging the extra-judicial killing of her husband, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.
She joined Sergeant Farouk; the Divisional Police Officer, B-Division, Abacha Road, Mararaba, Nasarawa State; Mr Michael Agbo of the defunct SARS, Abattoir, Abuja; Supol Jackson Olimah (SARS); the officer in charge of SARS, Abattoir, Abuja; FCT Commissioner of Police and the Inspector-General of Police as respondents.
Narrating events leading to the death of her husband, the petitioner told the panel that in the evening of August 14, 2018, her husband came back to their house in company with her brother and was injured.
According to her, the deceased told her that while in transit at Ruga, Mararaba, Nasarawa State, a blue coloured Toyota Corrola double-crossed his car and he reversed but hit a car behind him.
He said the people in the Toyota car came and started dragging his car key with him, adding that, “Seeing this, he said he got out of the car and started running. The people started shouting ‘barawo’ and a mob caught up with him and started beating him.”
She informed that someone rescued the deceased and took him to Abacha Road police station, where Sergeant Farouk took over the case and released her husband to go home and take care of himself.
The petitioner said the following day, her husband went to the Garki General Hospital to treat himself, adding that while away, Farouk and Jackson Olimah visited their house and asked of her husband.
She informed that despite being told that her husband had gone to the hospital, the policemen kept surveillance in their area and later arrested her husband when he came back.
“I followed them to Abacha Road police station. On getting there, we met Michael Agbo at the station. He made a call and said he was at Abacha Road police station and that they have caught my husband.
“He asked my husband if he knew why he was arrested. He said he didn’t know. He (Agbo) now said an elderly man made a complaint again his that they had a business together and he was owing him N13million. My husband said he had never seen such money before,” she told the panel.
According to her, on August 16, 2018, Farouk called her to bring food for her husband, which she said she did, adding that the deceased was hale and hearty when she took the food to him.
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“Later, Jackson called me to ask if I had seen my husband. I told him I saw him today. He later called me that come and see my husband at the SARS office at Abattoir,” she said.
She informed that upon getting there, she met the deceased in a bad shape, adding that she notice twitch in his eyes.
“He was taken to Garki General Hospital where a doctor asked of what happened to him and narrated what happened to him when he was attacked by a mob.
“A CT scan was carried out on him and it was discovered that he had a haemorrhage in his brain. The doctor said they have to carry out the operation on him. He said the cost of the operation is N500,000, while the cost of the CT scan is N400,000.”
Uloko said she had to call her husband family members who came and asked that the deceased be referred to another hospital where he could be treated at a lesser cost.
“The doctor referred us to the Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital. On the way to Gwagwalada, my husband died on the way,” she said.
On cross-examination, Uloko told the panel that while taking her husband to the Garki General Hospital, both Olimah and Agbo followed them.
According to her, both officers stated at the Abacha Road police station that they were the ones who double-crossed her husband at Mararaba and shouted ‘barawo’ when he ran away.
She, therefore, prayed that apart from the compensation, the panel should order the police to make a public apology to the family in reputable newspapers and national television.
She further sought a declaration that circumstances leading to her husband’s death did not flow from natural causes, adding that there was the need to establish the identity of men in the Toyota Corolla salon car that double-crossed her husband’s at Mararaba.
She also wanted the panel to unravel the identity of the alleged complaint at the Abattoir office of SARS and establish who at the SARS office were involved in the interrogation of the deceased which eventually resulted in his death having been moved from Abacha Road police station while he was hale and hearty.
The petitioner further wanted the panel to ensure that all those found culpable be duly prosecuted and dealt with accordingly as deterrence to other officers.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the panel, Justice Suleiman Galadima (retd), has adjourned the petition till March 15 for defence.
Widow seeks N500m compensation from police, FG over husband’s death