This is the story of Samuel Uchenna...Nigerian and gay.
on the 19th of May 2020 at about 5:45pm, he got a phone call from an acquintance saying that he wanted come over to his house to say hello and Samuel said it was okay. At 5:58 pm his door bell rang and a team of six police officers from SARS [the Special Anti-Robbery Squad], with the acquaintance standing in front of them, in handcuffs.
Samuel was asked if he knew their suspect and he replied yes. That was when all hell broke loose. They barged into the house and began ransacking the house and roughly searching his personal belongings without a warrant. he asked the officers their reasons for this invasion, they were busy handcuffing him while turning his bedroom upside down. Upon further inquiry about the reason for all these and the warrant for this arrest, one of the officer gave him a slap across the face.He was dragged down the stairs and taken to the police command in Delta state, a special operational squad named “Safe Delta”. He was slapped across the face severely when he continuously requested from the police men to show him their warrant.
To give a clear picture of how this squad operates; the first thing they do is to confiscate the victims mobile phone till they are done with their investigation. this is exactly what they did with Samuel.Samuel was asked if he knew their suspect and he replied yes. That was when all hell broke loose. They barged into the house and began ransacking the house and roughly searching his personal belongings without a warrant. he asked the officers their reasons for this invasion, they were busy handcuffing him while turning his bedroom upside down. Upon further inquiry about the reason for all these and the warrant for this arrest, one of the officer gave him a slap across the face.He was dragged down the stairs and taken to the police command in Delta state, a special operational squad named “Safe Delta”. He was slapped across the face severely when he continuously requested from the police men to show him their warrant.
Samuel informed them that he is a Human Rights Defendant but this fell on deaf ears. After about 10 minutes of going through the victim's phone, he was questioned about the conversation he had with the acquaintance saying that the acquaintance confessed to being gay and he told them that Samuel was his enabler.
Samuel told the police men that he is aware of his innate attraction to the same sex but had never tried to act on it. He further added that he worked for an organization that offers health care for gays in the state. He was immediately detained without an option for bail.
On the 20th of May 2020, Samuel's project Manager was eventually able to locate the police station but wasn't allowed to see Samuel. The Project Manager had to call friends in higher places before Samuel was granted a bail of N150,000 (I wonder what happened to 'Bail is free').
Samuel is home safe but is afraid for his life as he doesn't know what can happen at anytime.
he might have escaped this time. but what happens next time? because there is definitely going to be a next time as police already know him and where he lives.
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