Police IG, Tunji Disu
For the family of Babajide Adelowo, a Lagos-based barber, his story is one of pain, cruelty, tragedy and the frightening abuse of state power.
If the allegations surrounding his arrest, detention and horrendous death are true, then Nigeria has once again witnessed the mindless and unwarranted destruction of a citizen by those who should be protecting him.
Babajide’s fate is a reminder that the atrocities that triggered the #EndSARS uprising six years ago haven’t gone away.
The barber was reportedly in his shop on October 6 trying to earn an honest living when officers from the X-Squad of the Lagos State Police Command appeared and, without a warrant, searched the entire shop, then took him away.
Twenty-eight days later, Babajide emerged from police detention unable to walk without assistance.
According to his family, the X-Squad officers helped him into the family’s vehicle because he couldn’t stand on his own. They handed over a bag containing his medication and advised the family to take him to hospital.
Doctors said he urgently required several pints of blood. The following day, Babajide was dead.
His family alleges that he was denied meaningful access to his relatives and lawyers, tortured repeatedly, and subjected to degrading treatment. They claim officers suspended him from a weightlifting rod with his hands tied for between 30 and 40 minutes at a time.
He repeatedly lost consciousness; his clothes were soaked in blood and covered in faeces. The family says he was too weak to feed himself.
Therefore, the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, must launch a forensic investigation into Babajide’s horrifying death.
These accusations of police misconduct strongly suggest torture, unlawful detention and possible homicide.
The officers reportedly searched Babajide’s shop for firearms but found none. If no incriminating evidence was discovered, why did police detain him for 28 days?
The law does not permit detention of suspects beyond 48 hours without taking them to court. Indeed, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act was enacted precisely to prevent prolonged unlawful detention.
The police cannot become investigators, prosecutors, judges and executioners all at once. Every suspect, regardless of the allegation against him, remains innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
That foundational democratic principle is not optional. Sadly, Babajide’s ordeal isn’t isolated.
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An Ilorin-based woman, Rizkat AbdulKareem, alleged in a viral video that the police arrested her, tore her clothes, stripped her, and dragged her through the Oja-Oba Market on October 31 for allegedly violating environmental sanitation rules.
Worse, she alleged that she lost her pregnancy to the ordeal. This is police brutality; it is unwarranted. The police have turned the law on its head by acting as the accuser and the judge.
For decades, Nigerian police have faced disturbing accusations of relying on torture to extract confessions rather than conduct proper investigations.
Human rights organisations have repeatedly documented cases of unlawful killings, rape, extortion, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances.
Governments have acknowledged these abuses, set up committees, issued White Papers and made promises. Yet the abuses continue with alarming regularity, and accountability remains scarce. This must change.
Transparency International and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project have consistently identified the Nigeria Police Force as among the country’s most corrupt public institutions.
Extortion by police officers has become so commonplace that PoS devices are now freely used around police stations to facilitate illegal payments.
Motorists have been shot over insignificant sums demanded as bribes at illegal checkpoints. In April 2023, Onyeka Ibe was reportedly shot dead after allegedly refusing to part with a mere N100 at a police stop-and-search point in Lagos.
Christmas Day 2022 was a nightmare for the family of a female lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, who was shot at close range while returning from church.
Across the country, young Nigerians have complained of being profiled, harassed and extorted simply because they own laptops, drive certain vehicles or wear dreadlocks.
Detention facilities like Tiger Base in Owerri and “Abattoir” in the FCT have become chillingly notorious for torture and unexplained deaths of suspects.
Earlier this year, Nigerians watched in horror as a suspect, already restrained, was reportedly shot dead by police officers on a roadside in Delta State. Such incidents reveal a dangerous culture of impunity.
Human Rights Watch reported that police killed over 8,000 Nigerians between 2000 and 2007. Another NGO, Global Rights, said the police carried out “848 extrajudicial executions” between 2020 and June 2023.
In addition, SBM Intelligence documented a total of 824 deaths in 598 incidents of brutality by police and army officers between October 2020 and July 2025. This was precisely what triggered the #EndSARS movement.
Young Nigerians took to the streets because they had grown tired of arbitrary arrests, extortion, torture and unlawful killings. Their demand was simple: policing should be governed by law. Lives were lost, including those of police officers and protesters.
The notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad was disbanded. The authorities promised that such a tragedy would never happen again.
Babajide’s horrifying experience recreates the very conditions that fuelled that nationwide uprising. Indeed, the police seem to have forgotten that #EndSARS shook the country to its foundation.
If police officers truly believed Babajide committed an offence, they had every right to investigate and prosecute him. Torture is not investigation, nor is murder law enforcement.
Ironically, torture often produces unreliable confessions. Victims will say almost anything to end unbearable pain. Modern policing relies on forensic investigation, witness interviews, and painstaking intelligence gathering, not beatings, starvation and degrading treatment.
The NPF’s crude methods of fighting crime are not yielding the desired result. This must change.
Police services in countries such as Japan, Finland, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom generally place considerable emphasis on professionalism, community partnership, accountability and respect for human rights.
Their officers are trained to de-escalate conflict where possible, preserve life and operate under effective civilian oversight.
No police service is perfect, but Nigeria can learn from the culture in these jurisdictions. Disu has an obligation to lead genuine reform. Training must prioritise respect for constitutional rights and the sanctity of human life.
Torture should never be tolerated as an investigative tool. Officers found culpable must face criminal prosecution, not administrative transfers to another command.
Detention facilities require urgent reform. They should never become death traps. They must be clean and adequately ventilated. Detainees are entitled to medical care. Every detainee should have prompt access to lawyers and relatives.
Surveillance cameras should be installed in interrogation rooms and detention facilities to discourage abuse.
Babajide’s death demands far more than condolences. It demands justice.
Every officer involved in his arrest, detention and interrogation should be identified. If found culpable, they must be prosecuted and, upon conviction, receive the full punishment prescribed by law.
Justice is equally owed to Babajide’s widow and child, who reportedly kept asking when his father would return.
Babajide’s widow’s heartbreaking account of struggling to provide for the family after losing a husband who had faithfully fulfilled that responsibility is a painful reminder that police brutality destroys far more than individual lives. It wrecks the entire family ecosystem.
Nigeria cannot continue to normalise brutality in uniform. Every act of torture or an unlawful killing erodes public confidence in the criminal justice system.
Babajide should have been alive and healthy to defend himself before a court if there was evidence against him.
This tragedy must become a turning point. Police impunity has lasted for far too long. The era in which rogue officers torture suspects, extort citizens, operate above the law and escape accountability must end. Law enforcement officers cannot become perpetual lawbreakers.
The police badge is not a licence for cruelty. Nigeria owes Babajide and countless other victims a justice system that proves that people in uniform are not above the law.
Punch Editorial
The Punch
