By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta
What began as a routine arrest over an alleged petty theft of plantain has ended in tragedy, leaving a grieving family and the entire community of Ipara in Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun State demanding answers from the police.
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Peter Igbang, a 25-year-old farmer and former mechanic apprentice, was pronounced dead in police custody. Police authorities claim he hanged himself inside the cell using his own clothing. His family and local leaders, however, have raised serious questions over the circumstances surrounding his death, the delayed notification of relatives, and conflicting accounts given by officers.
Peter was arrested on Saturday, October 17, following an allegation that he stole a bunch of plantain. Relatives and community members described him as an industrious young man who owned a six-acre farm planted with cassava and mature plantain crops. Despite the arrest, his family said they received no formal notification for four days. Under Nigerian law, suspects are expected to be charged to court within 24 to 48 hours. That did not happen.
“I have no other son” – Mrs. Gift Joseph, Mother
Peter’s mother, Mrs. Gift Joseph, said she only learnt of her son’s arrest the day after his death, which was Tuesday, October 20.
“Honestly, I do not know what to say. It was only Tuesday, October 20, that I heard my son had been arrested on Saturday. Nobody called me or informed me about what had happened,” she said.
“My son had gone to the farm and was arrested on the road while returning. What I want to ask is this: in all my life, I have never seen or heard of someone being arrested and taken to a police station without their clothes being removed when they moving the person inside a cell, only for him to be left fully clothed and then reportedly hang himself inside the station. I find it difficult to understand how such a thing could happen.
“I have no other son; he is my only son. I want the authorities to hear my questions and listen to what I have to say so that I can receive answers and have some peace of mind.”
Gift confirmed that Peter was about 25 years old. Though trained as a mechanic, the family could not complete his apprenticeship or set up a workshop for him, so he turned to farming on his own six-acre land.
Sister’s account of confusion and contradiction
Peter’s elder sister, Juliet, who lives in Lagos with their mother and other siblings, said she received the shocking news on the evening of Tuesday, October 20, that the young man has died.
“Yesterday evening (Tuesday, October 20), around 7 or 8 o’clock, I got a call from someone in Ogun State close to my brother saying that my brother had died,” Juliet recalled.
“She said they arrested him on Saturday October 17, for stealing plantain. I asked how the family did not hear about it.” According to Juliet, a local woman who visited Peter in the cell said he complained of hunger and lack of water or food since Saturday, October 17, that he was arrested. He had pleaded that his family be contacted so he could be bailed.
When Juliet and her mother finally reached the station on Wednesday , October 21, an officer’s first words were: “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I asked, ‘Loss? How?’ They said my brother hung himself. I said I wanted to see the cell. Is there a rope there? What is inside that cell that he could use to hang himself? They said he used his own clothes.
“I asked, ‘But I thought when they arrest someone, they don’t allow them to go in with clothes except boxers. How come he was with his clothes?’ When they showed me a picture of him hanging on the window, he was wearing his full trousers.
That means the boy was fully dressed.
“They took me to the cell. I saw a small window that is very high. I asked how he got up there. They said he used a bucket. I asked what the bucket was doing inside the cell. They said it is normally in the bathroom beside the cell.
“The story is just somehow. I am confused. I still don’t know what to do.”
Community leaders dispute police claims
Mr. Fidelis, former Chairman of Ogoja community in Ipara, said police only contacted him after Peter was already dead.
“Yesterday they called me. When I reached the station, the man said something had happened.
He opened the cell and I saw that Peter had hanged himself, with a rope around his neck, from the window,” Fidelis said.
He said, “nobody called me until Peter died. Even me and the complainant have never seen each other. We don’t know each other.”
Mr. Joseph, current chairman of the community, questioned both the detention procedure and the official explanation.
“The question we asked at the station was: ‘Should a person be detained inside the station with his clothes?’ They said yes. But the way they showed us inside there, it does not look like the guy hanged himself.
“What shocks me is that the man was arrested since Saturday. According to the law, after 24 hours you should charge the person to court. From Saturday to Tuesday, none of the family was aware. And the person they claimed was aware said they did not call him.”
Another community member, Monday Philip, said he approached the complainant shortly after the arrest to plead for leniency.
“I went to the man who arrested the Peter to beg him. He said he just wanted the boy to go there and learn a lesson for only one month and come back. I hadn’t even finished talking when the man kicked his motorcycle and left me standing there.”
Calls for thorough investigation
The family and community leaders insisted that the circumstances of Peter’s death must be thoroughly investigated, especially the decision to leave a detainee fully clothed, the presence of a bucket that could serve as a platform, the failure to notify next of kin promptly, and the claim that the young man said he had no family.
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