Customers and employees at the Lakers Lounge Hotel and Bar in Ikorodu, Lagos State, have accused EFCC officials of t0rturing them during a raid on the facility.
According go reports, The workers were attending to customers at the club when armed officials stormed the premises around 11.30 p.m. on Friday, June 3.
The officials, who were said to have presented no warrant, also allegedly removed the closed-circuit television in the course of the operation.
Customers and workers were allegedly ordered to lie on the floor and those who protested against the raid were beaten.
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A customer, Oladapo Ogunyinka, said the EFCC officials seized peoples’ phones, adding that he had yet to recover his seized property.
He said,
“I left Ikeja with two guests to have fun at the club. We were upstairs when the EFCC operatives invaded the premises with guns and sticks.
“One of them, Olumide, approached our direction with a gun, seized my iPhone PRO Max 13 and Samsung Galaxy A22 valued at N900,000 and ordered us to go down.
“When we got down, the operatives told us to lie down flat. Immediately, the official that seized my phones started doing a video record.
“The officials went to the hotel attached to the club, broke the doors and brought lodgers outside. There was a particular couple that came out; the man was wearing only boxers, and the lady, a pair of pants and a bra.
“There was a lady that started convulsing due to the shock of the incident and one of the officers still beat her with a stick and said she was pretending.
“They treated people like animals; if I am lying, they have the CCTV footage with them, they should play it.
“They tied us in pairs of two; I explained to one of the operatives that I was a realtor that just came to the club to have fun and he informed the officer that led the operation from Ibadan, Chris Odofin, and I was untied. But they did not release my phones.”
“I had nothing incriminating on my phones, so I visited their office, asked for Momoh, who took me to where the seized phones were kept, but I didn’t see my phones.
“I became angry and started shouting and luckily, I was able to identify the person that seized my phones and Momoh also saw the officer.
“So, their boss had to intervene and told Momoh to call the officer. Their boss, who is a woman, gave them 72 hours to produce my phones, but till date, they have yet to produce them.
“It is surprising that I gave my phones to an EFCC official and he stole my phones instead of tendering them as exhibits.
“The incident was a nightmare. They harassed customers and workers at the club and didn’t even interview most people. I explained everything to their boss in Ibadan and she was just apologising,” he added.
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The Human Resources Manager at the club, Ajoke Quadri, said the EFCC officials presented no warrant, adding that business activities at the club had been paralysed after the raid.
She said,
“The EFCC officials destroyed the club’s property; they burst my office and the safe where I keep staff documents.
“They also destroyed the camera room, took all the DVR and hard drive and cut the wires connecting the CCTV.
“We also have a hotel attached to the club. They took the master card from our receptionist, went to the hotel’s rooms and the rooms where the master card wasn’t letting them to gain entry, they broke down the doors, raised the beds up and brought out lodgers.
“About 105 people work with us; but those operatives harassed my staff, including Gloria Nwankwo, and one of my supervisors, among others on duty. We had to rush the supervisor to a hospital as he could not hear properly after the attack.
“They also burst my boss’ office, took away three tablets used to punch in sales; they took two phones we used for receiving company transfer alerts.
“All staff and customers’ phones were taken; most of my staff had to go to Ibadan to retrieve their phones.
“I had to also go to Ibadan to retrieve some of our property. It was when I got to Ibadan that I was able to assist some of the people, including a nurse that was arrested at De Butler’s club, but had no money to return to Lagos.”
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