Human Rights Advocacy Group, Headfort Foundation for Justice has narrated how the police arrested 35 years old Dare Lawal and charged him to court for an offence he did not commit.
The foundation in a series of tweets posted on its verified X account said Lawal, a vulcaniser was raided by some policemen on his way to his friend’s house along Eleweran in Abeokuta to carry his motorcycle when he was raided by some policemen and taken to the police station.
It explained that despite a thorough search conducted on him by the police, nothing incriminating was found on him.
The rights group added that though nothing was found on Lawal and he could not be linked to any crime, he was charged and arraigned in court on 13 May, 2024 after 10 days in police custody.
It said: “Dare Lawal a 35-year-old man from Ogun State, is married with two children and a vulcanizer/motorcycle rider. On the 2nd day of May 2024, Dare was on his way to his friend’s house along Eleweran in Abeokuta to carry his motorcycle when he was raided by some policemen and taken to the police station.
“At the station, Dare was asked a series of questions if he knew any person called “Mighty”, if he had ever carried such a person as a passenger, and if he was a member of any cult group to which he responded in the negative. The police searched Dare thoroughly but nothing incriminating was found on him.
“Even though nothing was found on Dare and he could not be linked to any crime, he was charged and arraigned in court on the 13th day of May 2024 after 10days in police custody. He was charged with 2 other persons that he has never met before for conspiracy to commit crime, for belonging to an unlawful society and for breach of peace.
“He was granted bail in the sum of 500,000 and a surety who must be a licensed bondsman. However, his bail could not be perfected due to financial constraints and all efforts to get his family proved abortive as his phone had been confiscated by the police.
“On the 5th day of July 2024, our lawyer took on the case and made an application to the court that the matter be struck out as there was no evidence linking Dare to the offence and the court after perusing the statement of the defendant struck out the charges against Dare after he spent about 2months in prison for no just cause.
“Dare was arrested and detained without incriminating evidence, violating his right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
“The arrest and detention of Dare without evidence raise questions about the police’s conduct and potential abuse of power, which could lead to wrongful convictions of innocent citizens of Nigeria. The Nigeria Police Force must ensure that prosecutions are based on credible evidence, not speculation.”