How the Cops Tortured Me, Detained Me, Others on Earth - Admissions Applicant

Twenty-year-old Anthony Moses, son of a police inspector, recounts GODFREY GEORGE how he and eight members of his family were allegedly framed and arrested, and detained by men from the Cross River State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for about a week on trumped up charges

Briefly introduce yourself.

My name is Anthony Moses. Am from Odukpani Local Government Area in Cross River State. I'm 20 years old. I am currently awaiting admission to university. However, I joined the family business; we sell sharp sand. I am also a farmer.

You were recently arrested by the Cross River State Department of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence. What led to the arrest?

Yes, it is. I was arrested by SCIID. It all started with a small quarrel we had with another family who claimed sole ownership of the beach where we normally dig sharp sand for sale at Ekpene stream in Odukpani. We had a lot of customers coming in with their crawlers and diggers and we, the family, looked after them and charged them for the sand. It rotated between my family and another family. We are both from the village of Obot-Nkum, known as the ancestral home. When we worked for three weeks, the other family also worked for three weeks. It's been like that for years before I was even born because it's the job I came to see my father do before he found a job in the police.

But it was a surprise when one day the other family decided they owned the whole beach and shouldn't share it with us anymore. At first we thought it was a joke but they started threatening our parents and it became too much for us to bear. So my grandfather, who knew the genesis of all this, took the matter to court. The case dragged on for six years until the High Court in Calabar, Cross River delivered its judgment. The judge, Judge Ayade Emmanuel, told the two families to take advantage of the resources as "jointly owned, managed and enjoyed to propagate peace and community development". I have with me a copy of the judge's judgment. It was given on June 1, 2022.

What exactly led to your arrest?

More than eight of my family and I were at the beach as usual supervising the digging and collecting the product since it was our turn when we saw strange boys coming towards we. It was Monday (July 11). We thought it was people who wanted to buy sand so we had no idea. We just noticed that one of them was making a call. All I heard was, “Yes, they're here. They are around. As we were trying to run since I got in my car, they ran towards us and started hitting us. They outnumbered us so they beat us hard. I, in particular, was injured in the eyes. Some used sticks to destroy my car windshield and car body. It was when we were taken away that we discovered that these men were law enforcement officers. They were policemen who had been hired as thugs to beat us up. They denied that they weren't thugs and only came to enforce our arrest, saying someone had informed them that we were cultists. I begged them but they refused to listen. They took us away, seized our phones and my car key, handcuffed us and threw us into the van they had come with. I was even bleeding from my eyes and mouth, but they didn't mind. They took us from Odukpani to the SCIID office in Calabar.

How long have you been in their custody?

I stayed there almost a week. I was arrested on Monday; I found my freedom on Saturday. My eyes were swollen on the third day in the cell because no medicine was given. The police themselves took a photo but they refused to let us go. I was tortured for days for what I didn't understand.

What exactly did the police say about your offence?

When I asked why I was there, they said nothing. Later, they gave us a file in which they wrote "Cultism and Conduct" as our offenses. They then told us to sign underneath. I didn't know what they were talking about. In fact, I suffered. When I told them that my car keys had been seized by someone, they said they would give me my car keys after I was released. They didn't even want to understand what I was saying. They were determined to enforce their order. After we came out on the third day to explain ourselves, the officer in charge then said that he would strike out the worship charge but we had to pay money for the ride. The man didn't even understand. He didn't even want to understand. He just said, “Don't worry. Do not worry. Forget that. It's a normal allegation. Talk about driving."

...