Tales From Hell

As that was going on, youths from Ifaki, about 800 of them, came marching towards us. As each of them was taking his own pound of flesh, they kept saying: ‘Let us kill them, let us kill them, get them off our way.’ I could not even know what was happening to some of my colleagues. They kept beating us as they took us to Ifaki Police Station. One Hon. Lanre Fayemi ordered people to beat us. He was taking all sorts of phone calls, asking who to call. Before you knew it, a crowd of over 3,000 Ifaki youths, men and women, young and old, had gathered. They wanted to burn the police station. Even Hon. Fayemi was saying that he would burn all of us with the police station before one MOPOL officer, Chief Superitendent of Police, Samuel Etaifo-Erale came in. He called for reinforcement of policemen from headquarters. An armoured tank was brought, as well as policemen and weapons. That was how he came to lead us in a convoy to the police headquarters.

It was clear that if we had stayed there few minutes later, the youths would have killed us. We were moved away in our tattered and blood-soaked dresses. We were told to make statements; we managed to put something down. We said if they must keep us there for up to five hours, we should know if we were suspects or complainants. We showed them blood on our bodies [to convince them] that we were complainants. For five hours, they did not know what to do with us. Eventually, Rev. Fr. Aborishade from the Catholic Mission in Ado Ekiti came to stand for us and we were purportedly granted bail. We were taken to the Catholic Clinic in Ado Ekiti… we were treated at Maria Assumpta Hospital.

Then the DIG came and said our bail was improper, that they must bring us back. So, they came and took us away from where we were receiving treatment. We were in detention at the Police Headquarters, Ado Ekiti for two days, without access to bath. We did not know what is happening. They did not allow us to go back to the clinic but some of us managed to get some tablets and some of us injections and that was all. We requested to go back to the Catholic hospital [but] they did not allow us. Meanwhile, they took my laptop and said that the complainant claimed that there were fake election results in it which I wanted to declare. I challenged them to produce the information because all the people in our group are non-partisan. One is a staff of the National Human Rights Commission, Wahab Adejuwon; another is a lecturer of the University of Ado Ekiti, Dr. Azeez Olaniyan; there is Bimbo Adewunmi from the Action Aid, Abuja. How could we be involved in election malpractices? They intercepted us at the point that the police had just checked us. They beat us thoroughly, took us to the police station and now they are claiming we are the suspects. They claimed we were on espionage mission and had come to disrupt elections.

The DIG, John Ahmadu, was saying that there were serious allegations against us, that some exhibits had been found on us and therefore we were going to Abuja. I said he should study the information, complete his investigations before he begins to make pre- emptive statements. That is what is expected of a responsible DIG. When Femi Falana came, he was under the impression that we were granted bail but they brought us back into detention and he did not even have access to the DIG, John Ahmadu. On the conduct of the election, there was violence in some areas. Like in Ifaki for example, they did not want anybody to come and observe. They said they did not believe in it. So, some areas were violent while other areas were peaceful and things went smoothly. Results were announced and there was no problem. Like in Igbemo, we were told observers should follow INEC vehicle. That is not the role of observers, they are not supposed to follow ballot boxes. Observers are to see how the voting goes. We are not to interfere in the process. Ayo Arise himself was not being detained but over 60 youths caught in his house were detained along with us.

When Hon. Fayemi saw the name of Wahab Oyedokun, he called the father, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun. Wahab is a lawyer with the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja, which is a government agency. He was there to monitor. When Fayemi called Alhaji Oyedokun, he confirmed that Wahab is his son. Hon. Fayemi now turned to Wahab Oyedokun and said, in Yoruba, Omo ale ni e niyen; meaning, you are a bastard then. He added: “I would have wasted you.” He was saying he wanted to waste all of us, he would burn us with the police station. There were over 3,000 youths waiting to carry out that mission, but for the rescue mission by Samuel Etaifo-Erale. You should commend this police officer. He was the one that saved us. He called for and got reinforcement of policemen from the police headquarters and that was why they were able to ferry us through. I want that officer to be publicly commended. He did very well to save our lives.