It has been claimed that Jimoh Abdulquadri, a middle-aged member of the Balogun Fulani community in Erubu/Asunnara, Ilorin, Kwara state, passed away while in the custody of the state’s police.
It was learned that the deceased died on December 20, 2024, after being apprehended by police officers on December 19, 2024, for allegedly owing N220,000 to a person named Peter.
The deceased’s family accused state police command headquarters officers of abusing Abdulquadri while he was under their care.
The deceased’s older brother claimed that prior to the tragedy, steps were already being taken to pay off the N220,000 debt.
According to reports, my brother owed someone N220,000, and steps were being taken to pay off the loan. Around 5:30 p.m., he was arrested with his phone and N75,000, and he passed away on December 20 at 7:30 p.m. When the police indicated they had no idea what was going on with my brother and that he had been transported to the hospital, we were contacted a few hours after midnight on December 20 to come and bail him out.
We were instructed to meet them at General Hospital, Surulere, Ilorin, by the time we arrived at the headquarters early in the morning. He was beaten to death and covered in blood, as we witnessed at the mortuary. They claimed that he used the cloth he was wearing inside the jail to hang himself. Given his height, my brother could not have committed suicide in the police cell.
The person my late brother was owing money is an elder brother to a policeman. The individual gave his younger brother instructions to abuse my brother. His face was swelled, blood was streaming from his nostrils, and there were bruises all over his body when we arrived at the mortuary.
The family called on the relevant authorities to step in and accused the police of plotting to hide the incident.
But in response, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, the Inspector-General of Police, ordered the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) to take over the probe right away on Sunday.
Toun Ejire-Adeyemi, the command spokesperson, confirmed the occurrence and promised a comprehensive investigation.