After his arrest, Eze Ebuka insisted he was not a cultist, so SARS tortured him into admitting he was.
I’m Eze Ebuka, a welder, and the first in a family of three.
This is my SARS story.
Around 1 a.m. on Saturday, May 23, 2020, my sleep was disturbed by loud knocking on the door of the main entrance of my home in Ekwulobia, a town in Anambra state.
Five officers of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria police had come in over the fence, with guns and machetes, screaming my name.
My mother opened our door, asking why they were calling me at that hour. They said they had a message for me.
My mother asked why they did not wait till daybreak. They did not answer, and instead forced their way past my mother, and into our house. They barged into my room – meeting me in my shorts. The officers asked me to throw on some clothes, then scattered my room, looking for something.
I did not know what they were looking for but it was clear they didn’t find it. They then handcuffed me, told my mother they had come from the Central Police Station (CPS) in Nnewi, 25 kilometers west of Ekwulobia. The officers said my mother would have to go to CPS if she wanted to know why I was being arrested.
On the way to the station, the officers asked me to provide names of five cult members if I wanted to be released. I told them I wasn’t a cultist and did not know any cult members. But they accused me of lying and said they would make me confess at the station.
Forced confession
We got to the station at 3 a.m. and I was taken into custody with five other boys they had arrested that morning. I was told I would be the first suspect to be tortured for me to confess my cult membership.
I was led somewhere within the station where I was asked to sit on the ground. They asked again if I was a cultist, and I continued to defend myself. I told them that I had a legitimate job that occupied me from the early hours of the day into late night. I told them I had nothing to do with cultists, and I knew of no other family member associated with cultism.
They didn’t believe me. They started to torture me. They bound my legs and hands behind my back, with my head facing the ground. Two of the officers then put rods between my hands and legs, which they used to lift me so I’d be suspended in the air.
Nightmare
Let me tell you, it was a nightmare.
The rod started to injure my hands and legs, so I started crying. It was unbearable, and I remember shouting for help. Some officers came in, and I told them, out of desperation, that I was a cult member. I had no choice. I just wanted the torture to end.
“Do you belong to Aromate (a notorious cult group that usually causes trouble around the Ekwulobia town)?” they asked.
“Yes,” I responded. I was at my breaking point.
“When did you join the cult?” they asked.