A human rights attorney, Mr. Nnaemeka Ejiofor, has expressed concern about the enforced disappearance of 24 people who were detained by security personnel after being suspected of having ties to the IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, who is currently in custody.
Ejiofor, who briefed newsmen in Abuja on the matter, lamented the fact that some of the missing people, who he claimed were taken into custody after being taken from their houses in August 2021, had not been seen and have not been brought to justice.
“These men and women’s offenses stem from the fact that they are IPOB members or close friends of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
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“Since their arrests, none of these victims of enforced disappearance have even been close to a trial.
“These 24 identified victims are just a fraction of the number of persons who were arrested and disappeared as so many very gory and scary reports of extra judicial execution, murder in the cruelest manner such as by suffocation, starvation, and or summary execution abound,” Ejiofor said. “None of them has ever been allowed to contact their lawyers or family and all judicial efforts made to see them or get them released have been illegally thwarted and frustrated.
The senior attorney said that 20-year-old Joy Godwin Udoh, also known as Idara Gold, was one of those being held.
He described how Miss Udoh, a native of Akwa-Ibom state, was detained on her birthday by DSS agents at the residence of her fiance for reportedly donning a frock that was thought to be the Biafran flag’s color.
She was on her way to celebrate her birthday with her fiance when state security service agents barged into the home in search of Mazi Chuks Egwuatu. She was detained together with her fiance’s entire family. On November 16, 2021, she was transported to the SSS office in Abuja, while her fiance’s siblings were freed after around five days in detention.
Joy Udoh committed the offense by dressing in a specific color on her birthday, and the SSS came to the conclusion that this color was used to promote and influence the IPOB.
Joy was moved to a military detention cell without a court order and in violation of all known laws in Nigeria, like others before and after her, according to Ejiofor.
He criticized the DSS for denying the jailed woman access to her attorneys in violation of an Abuja Federal High Court ruling and for failing to appear in court ever since.
We don’t know where Joy Godwin Udoh is right now, and none of us, including her family, have been able to speak to or see her.
Barrister Pius Awoke, Fortune Okezie, Chinedu Nwoba, Chinomso Onyeibe, Eze Joseph, David Ogbonnaya, Ajah Joseph, Igwe Johnson, Kenneth Ojima, Wisdom Ezika Nwambana, and Uket Godwin were among the additional 11 people listed by Ejiofor as having been detained on July 26, 2021, as they were traveling to Ebonyi State after appearing in court to
They boarded two vehicles to return to Ebonyi State after the case involving Kanu on the mentioned day at the Federal High Court in Abuja, only to be stopped by a Navy Unit stationed at Lokoja, Kogi State.
They were detained at the checkpoint for more than five hours before an SSS squad arrived to transport them to Abuja.
They were allegedly moved to the WAWA Military Barracks in Niger State after being sued in court to contest their arrest and incarceration.
“They have not been taken before any court for trial, nor have their attorneys or family spoken to them.”
Others on Ejiofor’s list of allegedly arrested alleged members of IPOB who have not yet been located include Ikechukwu Henry, Emeka Ngonadi, Kingsley Onovu, Ogbonna David, Emmanuel Onyibe Chinomso, Ogbonna Christian Ndubisi, Eze Ernest Chukwuemeka, Ibeleme Tochukwu, Emmanuel Ike, Rev. Cletus Whole, Chin
Ejiofor continued, “We urge the federal government to do the right thing by bringing these victims forward and releasing them to their families with apologies and compensation.”
Wives, kids, and relatives of several of the detainees attended the media meeting.
