EXPOSED: Police Arrest Deaf Man, Extort N300,000 For Bail
A deaf man, identified as Ikpeasan Abaga, along with three others, was reportedly assaulted by hooligans on December 12, 2024, in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State.
However, in a shocking turn of events, they were arrested and detained by the police.
The police allegedly extorted N300,000 as bail money from the victims.
The payment was made to ASP Mure Audu Eric through a combination of cash and wire transfers—N100,000 in cash and N200,000 via bank transfer. According to a transaction receipt, the receiving account number is 0011825454 at Access Bank, registered under Mure Audu Eric.
The three other victims, who sustained varying degrees of machete and club injuries, have been identified as Kuru Adamu, Micah Lena, and Ikpe Bako.
They were reportedly attacked by rampaging thugs who were protesting over territorial boundary and community name, at Barikin-lissa.
“My brother, the deaf was on a routine immunisation when the hoodlums descended on him with clubs and machetes. He was beaten to a pulp and was unconscious for about 24 hours,” one Douglas Abaga, an engineer, said.
The divisional police headquarters in Takum responded swiftly, arresting several perpetrators while others fled across the border into the neighbouring Republic of Cameroon.
Those apprehended at the crime scene include Gambo Karma, Senior Gambo, Idi Yakubu, Alexander Moses, Habila Emmanuel, and Bitrus Kaigama. Meanwhile, their accomplices who remain at large are Kayang Maigida, Sunday Danladi, Agyasa Alhassan, Godbless Megida, and Moses Sokoto Kunga.
As charges were being prepared against the suspects, key local figures—including the paramount ruler of the area, Barr. Sopiya Ahmadu Gboshi, the state lawmaker from Takum II, John Lamba, the Takum Local Council Chairman, John Ali Danjuma, and the Ward Councilor of Shibong, Japheth Sanda Zaure—intervened, requesting an out-of-court settlement. The police agreed to their request.
“We arrested them and we were about to charge them to court for inciting violence and public disturbance as ordered by the CP (Commissioner of Police), but there was a high-level intervention for alternative dispute resolution,” a police officer told SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity.
He added, “The first-class traditional ruler of Takum, the council chairman, the legislator representing Takum II and the councilor of Shibong Ward brokered the peace and communicated the terms to our DPO (Divisional Police Officer).
“They agreed that the rioters were to take full responsibility for all properties destroyed and pay compensations accordingly.”
Confirming the police account, both the Shibong Ward Councillor, Zaure, and the Takum Council Chairman, Danjuma, stated that the perpetrators had begun complying with the agreed compensation terms by making an initial payment of N1.2 million, which was placed in the custody of the Ward Councillor.
However, in a dramatic turn of events marked by alleged corruption and a breach of police protocol, armed personnel from the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) stormed the town, bypassed the Takum Police Division, and forcibly took the ailing deaf and mute victim, along with the other victims.
Acting on alleged orders from the CID officer in charge, DC Zango, the councillor—who had helped mediate the peace settlement alongside other community leaders—was also arrested and, along with the victims, thrown into a detention cell.
“We had to cough up a whopping N300,000 to be allowed to return home,” Zaure recounted.
“Just yesterday, Inspector Gambo and ASP Eric came here to Takum and collected the N1.2 million compensation money in my custody,” he added.
When contacted the spokesperson for the Police Command in Taraba State, SP Usman Abdullahi, he confirmed that the deaf person, a councillor and three others were arrested in Takum and brought to the state CID on January 18, 2025.
He, however, explained that they were arrested following “a life-threatening petition to the CP (Commissioner of Police)” by the suspects in this case.
On the N1.2 million compensation money collected from the councillor and the N300,000 bail money, Abdullahi retorted, “I’m not aware of any such monetary transaction.”
In Nigeria, cases of police abuse of power and corruption continue to escalate, leaving citizens uncertain about how to seek justice.
