#EndSARS: The Forgotten Story Of Bola Afilaka
One evening in January 1995, while riding through Lagos with two of his friends, a 19-year-old student of Ahmadu Bello University was shot at and injured by men of the just commissioned Special Anti-Robbery squad, of the Nigeria Police Force, and while he bled profusely, he was transferred from his car, to the police patrol van and taken not to a hospital, nor even a police station, but on patrol with the officers who had shot him, from around 8:00pm, until the early hours of the next day.
His name was Bola Afilaka, and if you like your stories with a nice, happy ending, you should stop reading at this point.
In a trend that has continued, and worsened since that day, 25 years ago in 1995, he and his friends were accused of armed robbery by the officers, who summarily decided the death sentence was appropriate.
They were not given access to a lawyer or any kind of legal representation.
There was no jury.
There were no judges.
No part of the established due process which is documented in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the single source of truth for conduct by law enforcement as well as every citizen of the nation was followed by the SARS officers involved.
Hell, even the families of the accused would have been unaware of any of this, and if it hadn’t been for one of the young men who managed to escape from the scene, while being shot at by the police officers in the process, there is no reason to assume that would have changed at all.
Even though the intentionally unnamed member of the trio escaped and managed to reach members of his friend’s families with the news of what had transpired that day in 1995, the hurdles faced by Bola’s family while trying to find their son have been faced till date by Nigerians while dealing with ‘arrests’ made by members of SARS:
The police vans used by SARS (until two years ago) carried no official police markings (they would often be commandeered commercial busses) the officers show no identification during their operations (the typical garb ranges from cheap tracksuits and sneakers to cut-off denims and tee-shirts) and respond with violence when any identification is requested of them by anyone, and this makes it nearly impossible to locate what police station they are attached to or operate out of.
Several hours later, after desperately combing through every police station in an ever-widening search area, the family arrived at Adeniji Adenle Police Station, where they were informed that there were no records of the boys nor knowledge of their arrest, and were on their way out when their attention was caught by a Daewoo racer in a corner of the parking lot- The same Daewoo racer driven by Bola, only difference was the bullet holes on the car, during the heated argument with the Police on their insistence of Bola being in the station since his car had been found in their premises, the second guy who had also been shot heard the commotion and started shouting out from the cell that they were in there. At this point they (the police) had no choice but to back down, it was only then they took the guy to the hospital, unfortunately Bola had died in his friends arms a few hours earlier as his family now found out.
Appeals were made to the NPF to at least see that the injured boy was given medical care, and were rejected for hours until his condition worsened beyond control. After three days, he was transferred from a crowded police cell to be handcuffed to a hospital bed where the evidence of the crimes against them became clear.
The eyewitness account from crowd that had been at the scene on the night of the incidence testified that the boys had shouted they were students, and bola had said “Let me show you my ID card” and as he made to reach for his pocket he was riddled with 5-8 shots and one to the chest by by the men of the force, on searching the car and finding no incriminating evidence, (they also found a student Id card on the other guy) they began shouting that the 3rd guy had the weapons they.
The Police version;
According to the NPF, while not a single live round or shell casing was recovered from the Daewoo Racer in which the trio had been arrested, and which still bore the gunshot markings from the SARS officers – the third member of the trio who got away had somehow managed to escape carrying every weapon they allegedly had in the car, as well as all of the ammunition that would be required to render them lethal weapons, and they were still actively on the hunt for this individual.
Bola’s parent’s buried 19 years and 9 months of hopes, aspirations and dreams with their only son, and Nigeria once again, devoured her own and absentmindedly wiped his blood off her lips.
And us? We climbed on his grave and built a new ‘normal’ atop it, and atop the hundreds or perhaps thousands (who knows?) of graves that have been dug, and filled with our brightest, our best, our old and young since that day in 1995.
Then we heaved a sigh, shed a tear and said; “IT IS WELL” –
That is the signature tune of our generation, our closing remark for every misfortune, every wrong deed, every unjustly act, every evil done.
But, is it truly well?
– when a woman is being battered by her husband?
– when boys and girls are being sexually molested?
– when women, men, girls, boys are being raped?
– when men in uniform beat up a man in full glare of a crowd for challenging their wrongful actions?
– when a hospital refuses to save the life of an accident victim.
– when our so called leaders squander the nation’s resources all in the name of service to the people?
– when the government increases VAT to 7.5% after a battering the economy for decades and witch-hunting those who dare question their excesses?
We say “ I am strong”, when visibly ill and “I am rich”, when barely able to put food on the table.
But is it truly well when our youths are being targeted and cut down in their prime by the same body that is meant to serve and protect them?
We failed Bola Afilaka, and we failed
#KoladeJohnson
#Tina Ezekwe,
#KazeemTiamiyu
#ChibuikeDanielIkeaguchi
#MusabSammani
#Chima
#OgahJumbo
#JimohIsiaka
And an uncountable multitude of others
Nothing is well here.
Nothing was well in January of 1995.
Nothing has been well for a very, very long time and nothing will be well until we choose and insist on a future for ourselves that we wish upon our children, and the moment to do so, in case you’re in doubt, is always: now.
May we not lose the strength to keep fighting and achieve visibly positive results, then, only then can it be well.
