According to family sources, police personnel accused Ibrahim of illegally owning gun licences, an allegation that would soon spiral into months of detention and repeated demands for money.
The Nigerian police authorities have been accused of extortion, intimidation, and bias in their handling of a case involving Ibrahim Balarabe Abba from Kano State, a case his family says has turned into a prolonged ordeal marked by fear, financial strain, and repeated violations of due process.
According to family sources, police personnel accused Ibrahim of illegally owning gun licences, an allegation that would soon spiral into months of detention and repeated demands for money.
“A certain SP Fasasi came to Kano to search the house of one suspect on the first week of July 2025. They found a pump-action for protection in his residence. When he was asked where he got a gun, he said that he got it from Ibrahim,” a family source said.
The police officer was said to have led others who later came to Ibrahim’s house and conducted a search, an action that family members say left them shocked and distressed.
Family sources noted that during the search, a gun licence was found in Ibrahim’s house, but no gun was recovered.
“The police arrested Ibrahim after which he took them to the person that issued him the licence,” the source said.
Family sources told SaharaReporters that Ibrahim obtained the licence without any knowledge that it was illegal, trusting the authority of the officer who issued it.
“The licence was issued by a retired police officer and Ibrahim did not know that a senior police officer would give an illegal gun licence,” the source said.
“They did not arrest the retired police officer who issued the licence but arrested his son, Abdulmalik Aliyu. They freed him after collecting at least N7 million.”
The family said what followed was an exhausting cycle of detention, negotiations, and financial pressure.
According to them, officers at the Wuse Police Division in Abuja, began demanding increasingly outrageous sums to grant bail, while refusing to formally charge Ibrahim in court.
“After a long time, about three months in detention, in September 2025, we paid $1,000, the equivalent of N1.5 million and provided two sureties to grant a bail to Ibrahim,” the source said.
According to sources, before the $1,000 was paid, the family had already sought relief through the courts, filing a case at the Federal High Court, Abuja, in August 2025.
However, police authorities allegedly failed to appear, leaving the family feeling abandoned by the system meant to protect them.
“They refused to be present and even told us that we must not approach the court if the case must have a headway,” a family source noted.
“It was at this point that they told us to pay the money which they labelled as a bail.’”
Although, Ibrahim was eventually released after the payment, the relief was short-lived.
In November 2025, he was invited again by the police and subsequently detained, reopening what the family describes as a nightmare they thought had ended.
“The police authorities invited him again in November and subsequently detained him, they are now asking us for N5 million bail; this is despite the fact that they ignored court processes,” a family source said.
More Disregard for Court Processes
Desperate for justice, Ibrahim’s family returned to court, filing another case at the Federal High Court, Kano.
While the court ruled in their favour, the family said the police continued to hold Ibrahim in custody, deepening their sense of helplessness.
Documents obtained by SaharaReporters show that the Federal High Court sitting in Kano has ordered the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to produce Ibrahim, who is allegedly being held in their custody, to enable the court to determine the legality of his detention.
The order was issued on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, by Justice S.A. Amobeda of the Federal High Court, Kano Judicial Division, following an ex parte motion filed by Abba’s legal team seeking enforcement of his fundamental human rights.
The suit, marked FHC/KN/CS/521/2025, was instituted against the Inspector General of Police, the Nigeria Police Force, the Police Service Commission, the Head of the IGP’s Special Investigation Unit, SP Abiodun Adekunle Fasasi, and the Divisional Police Officer, Wuse Division Headquarters, Abuja.
In the application dated December 8, 2025, the applicant asked the court to compel the respondents to “produce the Applicant detained under their custody, as the court may there and then examine and determine whether such detention is legal, and show cause why the Applicant should not be released forthwith.”
The applicant also sought “an order granting bail to the Applicant, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.”
Additionally, the motion requested “an order of injunction restraining the Respondents from taking any further steps in connection with, or relating to, or arising from the invitation against the Applicant, pending the determination of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement) proceedings.”
The court was further urged to grant leave “to issue and serve the originating process and all other court processes on the Inspector General of Police, the IGP’s Special Investigation Unit, SP Abiodun Adekunle Fasasi, and the D.P.O, Wuse Divisional Headquarters, Abuja, outside the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court.”
Justice Amobeda granted the application and directed the respondents to comply accordingly, pending further proceedings in the matter.
Despite the court’s clear orders, family members alleged that police authorities are instead pressuring them to withdraw the case and pay another bail of N5 million, an amount they say continues to show the anguish they suffer after months of financial and emotional exhaustion.
“What we have suffered is intimidation and a corrupt system,” a family source told SaharaReporters.
The family is now pleading for the immediate release of Ibrahim, saying his continued detention has inflicted deep emotional pain and shattered their trust in the justice system.