EXCLUSIVE: Nigerian Policemen Demand ₦300,000 Bribe To Release Eight-Month-Old Baby, Mother Held Since March In Suleja Prison

The Nigerian Police have been accused of demanding a ₦300,000 bribe to release a young mother and her eight-month-old baby, who have been illegally detained at the Suleja Prison, Niger State, since March 2025, SaharaReporters has learnt.

In an interview with SaharaReporters, the woman’s husband, identified as Misbau, revealed that both his wife and infant daughter had now spent six months behind bars without trial, after their arrest during a #FreePalestine protest in Abuja.

According to him, officials of the Nigeria Police Force and top prosecutors in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), including a chief prosecutor named Adama Musa, have consistently frustrated attempts to secure their release while openly demanding bribes.

“The police, the DPP people in FCT, including the chief prosecutor, his name is Adama Musa, are not willing to release her,” Misbau told SaharaReporters.

“My daughter and wife have spent six months inside the prison now without any trial. The police is now demanding money from me to facilitate their release. The police said they want me to pay ₦300,000.”

He described the situation as both inhumane and life-threatening, stressing that his wife’s health had deteriorated while in detention.

“They are very wicked people. Even now that I am speaking to you, my wife is not well. She is critically sick. And they no gree allow me to take her go hospital for proper treatment. When they took her to the clinic they have inside the prison, the only thing they gave her was paracetamol and Panadol extra,” he said.

Misbau further narrated that his wife was arrested alongside several others during the Sallah (Eid-el-Fitr) period while she was delivering an item to a customer.

“Do you know that the police arrested like 10 of them that day during the protest and put all of them inside the prison? It was only my wife that has a child with her. One of them is already paralysed inside the prison, while the BP of others is very low. But they just keep them inside the prison. And when I asked about why they are detaining them for long, they told me they would charge her for murder, and I said how would you frame the woman with her child for murder? That is wicked,” he lamented.

The husband also accused another prosecutor, identified as “Dabu,” of extorting him previously without any action taken on the case.

“There is a second chief prosecutor on this matter, his name is Dabu. This man even collected my money before and he did nothing. So he is asking for another money. But now if I called him, he will insult me. He even insult my family because I reported to SaharaReporters and PUNCH. That SaharaReporters publication makes everybody knows about the case,” he explained.

Efforts by SaharaReporters to reach a member of the prosecution team, identified as Mada, were unsuccessful as he repeatedly ignored phone calls and has yet to respond to WhatsApp messages sent to him.

SaharaReporters had earlier reported that on September 2, 2025, Justice C.O. Agasheze of the FCT High Court refused to grant bail to the detainees, citing “orders from above.”

A source who attended the proceedings confirmed at the time: “The bail application was moved at the FCT High Court, but the judge refused it on the ground that his superior did not give him the go-ahead to release them. He said he couldn’t grant the bail because the remand order used to detain them since March was signed by the FCT High Court 4, who is superior to him. The judge simply told us it is the order from above stopping him from granting the ruling.”