Good evening. I was meant to do this video earlier today, but I’ve been having so much body pain. The pain is all over my body. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt pain like this before.
So, I want to talk about what happened on Saturday at Proxy. Most of you don’t know that I’m a promoter. If you see me outside, it’s for business. I promote for different clubs in Lagos.
Someone texted me and said, “Please, we want to come outside. I have someone that wants to take me outside. Where can I go?” I said, “Oh, go to Proxy, go to Proxy.” She said, “No problem,” and asked me to help book a table.
I was at home and didn’t want to go out at all. I just took a quick shower and left the house around after two. I got to Proxy and tried to get them a table. I’d been sitting for about thirty minutes when I heard, “Everybody go down, go down!”
I looked up and saw people in black, some military-looking. Everyone dropped. In my mind I was like, ah, armed robbers. I thought, what? I’ve never heard of robbers going to the club before. So I laid down immediately. Then I looked up and saw they were wearing NDLEA uniforms. I was like, what’s happening? Why did I even come outside tonight? So I just laid back down.
They were flashing torchlights, shouting, “Drop your phones! Don’t bring out your phones!” They walked around the club checking everyone. They searched me, checked my bag, my socks, everything, and found nothing. Then they said we should go outside.
We sat on the floor. It was very humiliating. I asked after some time, “Please, what’s happening? You’ve searched us and found nothing. Why not let us go?” They said, “Keep quiet! Stop talking! Do you want me to beat you?” So we kept quiet.
We were there for about two hours. It was already getting bright when they started picking us in tens: “You, you, you, stand up.” They loaded us into buses and took us to their NDLEA office in Ikoyi.
When we got there, it was bright already. They told everyone to sit on the floor again. After a while, more people from the club were brought in. Some ladies were asking, “What’s the problem? You didn’t find anything with us, why are we here?” The officers said, “You’re all suspects.” We were like, suspects for what?
Before I left the club, I had done a quick video of what was happening, so people wouldn’t think I was lying later. I also posted online that NDLEA had arrested us for no reason, because I wasn’t found with anything at all.
About 30 or 40 minutes later, a woman came in, and suddenly people started pointing at me. “He’s the one! He’s the one!” Five guys rushed at me. They slapped me, hit me. One man shouted, “Shoot him! Take him there! Go and shoot him!” They were beating me, kicking me. I was confused, like, ah ah, what happened? They were shouting, “Na you go post am abi? You’re very stupid!”
They dragged me outside and said, “Start rolling! Start rolling!” As I rolled on the floor back and forth, they hit me with sticks, kicked me, slapped me. I couldn’t even think straight. I was breathing fast. It felt like I was about to give up because I’d never been beaten like that before. For five people to be hitting me at once… In my whole life, it has never happened.
Then a woman came and said, “Don’t touch him again oh, just give him punishment.” They told me to do frog jumps. I couldn’t even do them because my legs were already shaking. They had kicked me, beaten me with sticks—some of them wearing boots.
I have bruises on my thighs, my hands, my back. They flogged me with something strong, sticks on my back. My back is still paining me. I was lying flat for a long time, struggling to breathe. Someone eventually had to carry me because I couldn’t stand. I was limping. They placed me at the reception.
After some time, a woman came and said, “Do you know I follow you on Instagram? Why would you post this online? Don’t you know you have a lot of followers? A lot of influence?”
In my mind I was like, what’s the crime in posting this? I posted because I’m not guilty of anything. I’ve heard stories: people get arrested at night, nobody finds them. So I acted fast. It was a trauma response. I’ve experienced something like this before in university.
Later, they carried me to meet the same man who had told them to beat me. He said, “You’re the one that posted, abi? Carry this man to the guardroom.” I was crying, literally sobbing. They took me down to the guardroom. It was a small room with prisoners.
Some of them recognized me and said, “Ah, what are you doing here?” They gave me a paint bucket to sit on. My hand was swollen, and one of the prisoners rubbed Aboniki on it for me.
I was there for about three hours, asking myself, God, what’s happening? Then they finally called me. By then, everyone else had been released. The place was empty. They said, “You, we’re releasing you now. Call somebody to come pick you up.”
I called my cousin and my friend. Thankfully, Elozonam, Ike, and Venita acted fast. Someone came and said, “They’re here for you.” They came, and we had to sign some papers before leaving.
We went straight to the hospital for a checkup. Elozonam said we should do an X-ray for my hands and knees. They said they’d send me the results later.
That’s what happened on Saturday night. I regret going out, honestly. But I went because of business. I make my money from tables. It was just an unfortunate thing.
Right now, my whole body still hurts. I can barely climb stairs. Even getting off the bed, I have to hold something to stand. The medication from the hospital helps me sleep, but the pain is still there.
And that’s what happened on Saturday when I came outside.
