Benson: Arrested by Police, whereabouts unknown

The whereabouts of 26-year-old car dealer remains unknown, three months after been whisked away by the police.

JETHRO IBILEKE

Three months after cops allegedly arrested a middle-aged man, Benson Obode, his whereabouts still remains unknown to his family members who are now in trauma. Elder sister to Benson, Mrs. Osawaru Izeyi said she is yet to come to terms about what has befallen their family.

The 26-year-old car dealer who was arrested on 21 May, 2015, was said to have slept at the home of her elder Mrs. Izeyi, the previous night and had helped her to sweep the compound before leaving for his rented apartment and just few minutes after, Mrs. Izeyi was called that her younger brother was in trouble.

As the bad news filtered in, Mrs. Izeyi said she rushed to the place only to see her brother being held down by his landlord and neighbours who informed her that the police had come for him for an undisclosed crime.

According to her, the police who eventually claimed they came from Lagos, took his brother away to the Edo State Command headquarters and two days later, she was first told he had been taken to Abuja and later again that he has been taken to Lagos. She disclosed that that was the last they know about Benson till date.

Izeyi: Laments about her brother’s whereabouts

Narrating the family’s ordeal to journalists in Benin, Mrs. Izeyi said a legal practitioner in Lagos had written the police but till date, no response has been heard from the police about their son’s whereabouts, neither has he been charged to any court for any criminal offense.

She said their aged mother who has been living with her since the death of their father a few years ago, has become hypertensive and always asks for the whereabouts of her son.

“Yesterday, she just told me to take her to Lagos to where I don’t know. Any time she hears me on phone, she will run to hear if there is any news about Benson.”

According to the traumatized Mrs. Izeyi, her fears has increased because one of the policemen confronted her for bringing a lawyer to the station for her brother.

She says her brother has always been a responsible person, adding “he (Benson) passed the night in my house and in the morning, he swept round the compound and left to his rented apartment. I was later called that people were holding him and when I got there, I saw his landlord and other people holding him down, I asked what happened and he said he doesn’t know but they said police came to arrest him but that he does not know what offense he has committed.

“Not quite long after, the policemen came back in a ash colour Toyota Highlander, they were wearing ear ring and dreadlocks. If not for the police colour on their rifle, I would have been doubting if they were real policemen, because they carried dreadlocks. I asked them what my brother has done, they said I don’t have any right to ask them questions, I begged that they should tell me but they did not talk to me. They collected my phone, I had to go back home to dress up and went back to the state command.

She explained further: “We saw the policemen, we tried to talk to them but they did not allow us to talk at all. We waited endlessly to see who could talk to us, nobody talked to us, we went to see OC SARS here in Edo state, he did not also attend to us, the policemen only told us that he bought a stolen vehicle and that he is an armed robber. I was surprised because he stayed with me for a long time, he never took my money. If he doesn’t have money, he will request from me and I will give to him, but the policeman insisted that he is a thief and that they are scorpion SARS from Lagos.

“The next day, 22nd, we went back with a lawyer since nobody is listening to us so that they can talk to him and then if possible see my brother so that we can ask him some questions, they did not allow the lawyer to talk to them, the lawyer waited and eventually they said he was an armed robber but still did not allow the lawyer to see him. The policeman later told me, ‘Na lawyer you carry come? You go waka you go tire.’ I said what does that mean? When we got there the next day, (23rd), he said they have moved my brother to Abuja and we later called a lawyer in Abuja to help us search police stations there, he went there and he could not see my brother. Later, the police told us again that they have taken him to Lagos in Ikeja, my uncle who is a policeman went there and searched several police stations but did not see him.

“Benson sells cars, he is 26, he goes to Cotonu maybe buy one car and sell with little gain at times. People send car from abroad and he helps them to market it. He has never been linked with any act of violence at all and he never told me he had any issue with anybody. They have been staying with me since our father died. Assuming he is a stubborn person, we won’t take it
like this. I don’t know what to do again, we are tired, my mother is in my house and she is worried once she heard any phone call she will jump to me to say what are they saying about my son, yesterday she just said I should take her to Lagos to do what, she said I should just taker her there, we are tired and confused,” Mrs. Izeyi said.

A copy of the family’s letter to the Commissioner of Police in Lagos state by Peter Ehijinwa of Peter Ehijinwa & Co dated 29th June, 2015 identified the team that traveled to Benin to arrest Benson as Corporals Adeleke Adedeji, Abenna John, Henry Shobowale and Corporal Oniyo Musa.

“They arrived Benin on the 18th May 2015 in milk coloured Toyota Highlander SUV and arrested Benson Obode on the 21st May 2015. Our clients are in serious apprehension as to what happened to their son because they have not heard from him. The family has made frantic effort to see him in Lagos, but were told that he is not there. We therefore pray you to go into this matter so that our clients will know the situation of this case. Our clients are eager to know the whereabouts of their son,” the layer’s letter said.

As at the time of filling this report, the family awaits a response from the Lagos Police.