Man dies after torture by So-Safe officers in Ogun

A man, identified simply as Success, has reportedly died from injuries sustained after being tortured by some operatives of an Ogun State security outfit, So-Safe Corps, along Coca-Cola Road, in the Oju-Ore area of the state.

PUNCH Metro learnt on Monday from a Facebook post by Ota Gossip that the incident occurred after an altercation between Success and his mother on Saturday.

The page disclosed that Success’s mother had reported the issue to the So-Safe officials, who took him into custody.

The post added that rather than the security officers handing over Success to the police, they allegedly took him to an uncompleted building and subjected him to torture.

The post read, “According to reports circulating within the community, the incident began after a misunderstanding between Success, his mother, and his younger brother at their residence. During the altercation, Success reportedly sustained a head injury and was seen bleeding.

“After the mother called, the So-Safe security operatives were invited to intervene. According to eyewitness accounts and videos circulating online, the young man was later taken away from the area.

“However, allegations emerging from the community claim that instead of being taken into official custody, he was allegedly taken to an abandoned building in the Oju Ore axis, where he was subjected to physical assault.”

Another Facebook user, Temitope Adeniyi, disclosed that the security officers allegedly beat Success to death.

“He fought with his mother, so his mother reported him to the So-Safe. The next thing, they carried him to an uncompleted building and beat him to death,” Adeniyi wrote.

Confirming the incident in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Monday, the spokesperson for the So-Safe Corps, Adegunwa Adegbuyi, said the officers have been handed over to the police.

Adegbuyi, while condemning the actions of the officers, said that they acted outside the standard operating procedures of the outfit.

“The mother called us to intervene, and some of our ad-hoc staff went. They are supposed to revert, but unfortunately, they took the law into their own hands.

“Instantly, when the case came up, we had to hand them over to the Nigerian Police Force because the Commandant does not condone anything that has to do with human rights abuse.

“We handed over the first culprit, and after some hours, we handed over the second culprit to the police for necessary prosecution. We are working on synergy with the police to ensure that justice is done,” Adegbuyi said.

He concluded that the So-Safe Commander, Soji Ganzalo, had consistently warned officers of the outfit against abuse of human rights and interference in civil matters.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, Babaseyi Oluseyi, has yet to respond to an enquiry sent to him on the matter as of the time of filing this report.

PUNCH Metro reported on Saturday that the Imo State Police Command arrested three students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, in connection with the alleged murder of a 21-year-old undergraduate, Chinedu Christogonus.

The deceased, a 100-level student of cybersecurity, was reportedly beaten to death on Saturday by members of the university’s Man O’ War organisation for allegedly stealing N13,500.

The incident had triggered unrest in the university as students went on the rampage, burning buildings and destroying other property on the campus.