By Ali Abare Abubakar
Musa Jibrin, 28, a driver with a private company in Abuja, yesterday reported that agents of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) arrested him alongside two others while going about their lawful business in Wuse II, on suspicion of being members of the Boko Haram sect.
Narrating his ordeal to our reporter yesterday, Jibrin alleged that shortly after their arrest, the security operatives not convinced with the personal identification cards in their possession, whisked them away suspecting them as being members of the Boko Haram.
According to the driver, he barely dropped his boss in his residence in Wuse II, signaling the closing of work for the day when he decided to visit a friend close by, in the same Wuse, only for the operatives to appear driven in two cars and to accost him alongside with two others.
“They came driven in two cars and accosted us while exchanging homilies at the kiosk of a mutual friend at Wuse II. They first sought to know what we were doing there and we explained that the spot is where we frequently retire to after the close of work, before finally going to our separate homes” he explained.
Apparently not satisfied with their explanations, the SARS operatives were said to have ordered them into the back of one of the vans, ready to be taken away; following which spirited individuals intervened, assuring the operatives that the suspects are indeed known persons in the area.
The security operatives, however, turned deaf ears to this plea, bundling the suspects even after they presented personal identification cards before the security agents.
“One of the operatives at a point told us that they are suspecting us of being members of Boko Haram” Jibrin further alleged.
He explained that the operatives finally released them after one of the arrested men contacted his boss on the phone who was able to convince the SARS agents to set the three men free, having already taken them to the vicinity of a police station in Maitama.
It could be recalled that some drivers attached to Dangote Group of Companies, were on recently apprehended in Lagos by security operatives, on the grounds of being suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
According to a BBC Hausa service, monitored on Tuesday, the arrested drivers, who were of northern extraction, were harassed by the security operatives even after they identified themselves.
The fate of the arrested drivers is still uncertain. When contacted on the incident, the Director, Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade did not respond to calls or text messages sent to her mobile phone.
