Bashir Bello, one of the 11 Nigerian youths detained by the Nigeria Police Force’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Abuja and charged with alleged treason for their participation in the August nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, has opened up about his harrowing experience in custody.
Bello, who also made heartbreaking revelations on how thousands of Nigerians, especially youths are languishing in IRT cells, said there is no intelligence in the Intelligent Response Team unit, noting that the police officers in the IRT only use torture to force their victims into making confessions.
Bello is being prosecuted alongside Michael Adaramoye, also known as Lenin, Adeyemi Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, Comrade Opaluwa Simon, Angel Innocent, Buhari Lawal, Mosiu Sadiq, Nurudeen Khamis, and Abduldalam Zubair.
They are facing six counts, including treason, conspiracy to commit a felony, inciting mutiny, and attempting to destabilize Nigeria, all offences punishable under section 97 of the penal code.
They are accused of attempting to force their way into the seat of power, burning down a police station, and injuring officers.
The Nigerian government also claims they incited the public against the government and destroyed public properties, including a police station, the High Court complex, and National Communications Commission facilities.
However, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/454/2024 at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, they pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them by the Inspector General of Police.
Recounting his terrible experience while in the IRT cell, Bello said, “The IRT detention facility is a dark cell, which should not exist in a democracy. So many innocent people are languishing in the cell without even knowing their offence.
“There is no intelligence in the Intelligent Response Team (IRT). They use all forms of torture to force their victims into confessing.
“So much illegalities are being perpetrated against those held in captivity. Many innocent souls are languishing in these dark cells without the hope of ever getting justice.
“The experience is nightmarish. I am yet to recover from the horrors and the trauma of the IRT cell experience, though the DSS cells are not better.”
He further stated that in the IRT cell, he met many inmates who shared their bitter experiences of torture and ill-treatment they were subjected to in the cell.
He said, “Torture was the modus operandi of the IRT personnel and they apply unconventional methods to force their victims into confessing.
“Some of these inmates have spent more than a year in the detention facility without ever appearing in court.
“In fact, many of them have been denied the right to inform their families or relatives of their whereabouts.
“Some had been given up on for good after their loved ones had exhausted all avenues to locate them.”
Bello recalled, “We were 67 cellmates forced into the cell that was barely 20-by-10 feet and they just threw people inside like sacks not minding the crowded and cramped cubicle.
“You could only stand or sit as there was no space to lay your head. We were just packed into the poorly ventilated and flea infested cell like sardine and interlocked together without any space for one to shift. Movement is impossible.
“When the space is filled, some people had to be forced to stand in the toilet throughout the night and only make room for those wishing to use the toilet while we stand and watch, with embarrassment our co-inmate as they stoop to relieve themselves.”
He further revealed, “No provision was made for our feeding. We handed the little money in our possession to one of the IRT officers that escorted us to the cell with the hope that he would help us get food but he went away with it.”
In October, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja granted a bail variation for five of them, reducing the bail amount to N5 million each.
On September 11, Justice Nwite granted bail to the defendants, setting the amount at N10 million each.
“The bail is hereby granted to the defendants in the sum of N10 million each with one surety in the same amount,” he said.
