The Cross River State correspondent of Triumph newspaper, Alhaji Musa Kutama, has narrated his harrowing 10-day ordeal in police custody after being arrested in Calabar and transferred to Sokoto over a bail issue involving his in-law.
Kutama was picked up by police operatives in Calabar after the in-law, for whom he had stood surety, absconded.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 10, Sokoto, Grimah Gyogon, eventually ordered his release after the said in-law was apprehended in Calabar and taken to Sokoto.
The case arose after Kutama’s in-law reportedly arranged a truck to convey timber worth over N10 million to Sokoto.
However, the driver allegedly diverted the consignment and fled, leaving the owner stranded.
The aggrieved timber merchant lodged a complaint with the police in Sokoto, leading to a sweeping investigation and arrests of all those linked to the transaction, including Kutama.
The veteran journalist recalled that he and others arrested in Calabar were transported under the cover of night to Sokoto, accused of theft and conspiracy.
Their journey was long and punishing, with stopovers at police stations in Enugu and Jere in Kaduna State, where they spent two nights in deplorable cells.
“We slept in unhygienic, overcrowded cells with no proper facilities. Bedbugs and lice were everywhere,” he recounted.
“The cell I stayed in at Sokoto was overrun with bedbugs.”
Kutama said that upon explaining his situation and identifying himself as a journalist, AIG Gyogon intervened, and he was released once his in-law was brought to Sokoto.
Kutama debunked the notion that bail is free in Nigeria. He said, “Nobody should deceive anybody in this country that bail is free.
“I had to borrow money from my Quranic students in Sokoto and friends in Calabar to raise a significant amount for bail and to transport myself back to Calabar.”
