It is now a policing policy in Nigeria under Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Kpotum Idris that “journalists, including bloggers and online publishers are now armed robbers in Nigeria.” Our first statement of yesterday has now become an advocacy statement of incontrovertibility. Under the present IGP, it is now a policing culture to unleash the fully armed operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) on innocent, unarmed and defenseless Nigerians; under the guise of “attempting to commit offense of defamation”.

Our updates not only authenticated wholly our statement of yesterday, but further exposed more policing and crime detection and investigation blunders including deliberate mistaken identity and custodial and pretrial persecution. As reported in our statement of yesterday, Citizens Daniel, Izuchukwu and Timothy Elombah; publishers of the Elombah.News.Com in Abuja were arrested and detained by the Federal Anti-Robbery Squad (F/SARS) on the express orders of the IGP. Citizens Daniel and Izuchukwu were later released on bail, while Citizen Timothy was detained and refused bail.

Today, instead of granting him bail, the IGP ordered the operatives of F/SARS to locate an amenable presiding judge of a court of inferior records so as to secure a remand aimed at his further detention and torture in custody. As expected, they landed at one Mpape Area Court in Abuja and applied for 20 days remand to continue to seize, detain and torture the innocent citizen under the guise of “continuing investigation”. After legal firepower by counsels present, the Area Court Presiding Judge/Magistrate, out of no choice, granted the marauding SARS operatives seven days.

According to the authorities of the F/SARS, as confirmed by the Elombah family, “Citizen Timothy Elombah is being held and investigated for defaming the character and name of IGP, Ibrahim Idris via an article titled: "IGP Ibrahim Idris: Unending Baggage of Controversies," published not by the Elombahs nor via their Elombah.News.Com. The article was published in a number of news sites on 22nd December 2017. The said article was written and published by Ebiowei Dickson, who neither works for the Elombahs nor publishes on their news site. The link to the said article is https://politicsngr.com/2017/12/22/igp-ibrahim-idriss-unending-baggage-controversies/

The false accusation of defamation was strongly denied by the Elombahs, who also reminded their captors that it is nothing short of mistaken identity and transfer of criminal liability. Yet the SARS operatives vehemently refused to discontinue their meddlesome interloping into an area of crime they know little or nothing about.

The SARS operatives, according to the Elombahs, claimed that they are under the matching orders of the IGP and have strong evidence against their captive. Yet they still sought for weeks of indefinite custody remand so as to torture Citizen Tim Elombah grievously and possibly force him into admission of guilt under duress.

Nigeria’s Police SARS, comprising F/SARS, Zonal or Z/SARS and State or S/SARS, are the country’s most barbaric, torturous and murderous policing sub-department. Their human rights abuses, especially custodial torture and pretrial executions, are second to none and one of the worst, if not the worst in the world’s records of policing atrocities and heinous rights abuses. Created to tackle armed robbery and kidnapping menace in Nigeria, operatives of the Police sub-department fundamentally lack requisite skills and modern kits for crime detection, investigation and prosecution. Crime data and reports in the country are totally moribund, likewise Police crime forensic and intelligence, crime detection and investigation using electronic and mental systematic approaches.

Through rabid policing corruption, the innocent have become armed robbers and treated as the black sheep with no recourse to due processes, except instant deaths arising from torture and other acts of policing brigandage, while those in conflict with the law in terms of violent crimes, especially those capable of buying their freedoms, are let off the hook and treated as the black gold.

We again call on all citizens of good conscience, especially human rights activists and traditional and online media practitioners in Nigeria and beyond, to rise in defence of Citizen Tim Elombah and against the excesses of the IGP. It is our firm demand that the spurious criminal allegations leveled against Citizen Tim Elombah must be discontinued and dropped after which a multi-billion compensatory justice suit will be instituted against the IGP and his subordinate rampaging SARS operatives.

The unfolding gory events in the past months in Nigeria clearly indicate that IGP Idris has overstayed his welcome as Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police and should be booted out. As Nigeria’s direct and indirect tax payers, we shall no longer continue to sit by and watch a common public officer in uniform to behave as an outlaw.

Nigerians should be reminded that our tax proceeds will no longer be used to service a security officer who runs riot on generality of Nigerians with guns and uniforms procured with our tax proceeds. As Nigeria’s IGP, it appears that he has forgotten that we cater for excreta, food, clothing, shelter, health and other social comfort and living, conveniences and inconveniences of himself and all members of his nuclear or polygamous and extended family.

•This statement was issued in Onitsha on Tuesday evening by the Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety). It was signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair, and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq., Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Programme.

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