A petitioner before the independent investigation panel on rights violations by the defunct SARS and other police units, Hassan Sani Musa, on Tuesday, narrated how police officers arrested and tortured his brother to death, adding that an Assistant Commissioner of Police gave the family N50,000 and a bag of rice.
This is even as he demanded the sum of N100 million from the police as compensation to the family for the alleged extrajudicial killing of his brother, Sailfullahi.
Hassan stated these while testifying in his petition before the panel set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), with the number 2020/IIP/ABJ/139, in which ASP Ismail of Aminu Kano police station; ASP Abba Adamu of Kano State Police Command; the Commissioner of Police, Kano State and the Inspector General of Police are respondents.
While narrating what led to the death of his brother, Sailfullahi, a 28-year-old resident of Kofar Mata, Kano, told the panel that on October 19, 2020, when the #EndSARS protest was ongoing, they were seated in front of their house in the Kano State capital as a result of the hot season when some policemen drove in and arrested the late Saifullah and took him to Shahuci Area Command, Kano.
“They arrested three persons. The speed at which they took my brother away left everyone confused and helpless. The following morning, we wanted to go and bail him but we learnt that he had died.
“They brought the corpse home but we insisted that we were not going to bury him since he was arrested hale and hearty. The corpse was returned to the police station from where it was taken to the Aminu Kano Specialist Hospital, Kano,” Hassan said.
According to him, both the Kano State government and the police tried to pacify the family over the loss of his brother, adding that an Assistant Commissioner of Police told them that the police officers responsible for the death would be dismissed.