The Ijaw People’s Development Initiative (IPDI) and the Ijaw Interest Advocate (IIA) have petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, calling on him to, unconditionally, set free six Ijaw who are currently languishing in the custody of the Edo State Police Command for yet-to-be-made-known reasons.
The call was made on Tuesday at a press conference held by the National President of IPDI, Comrade Austin Ozobo, with his secretary, Comrade Peter Luke, and the National Coordinator of IIA, Amb. Arerebo Yerinmere Peters Jnr, among others.
The groups gave the names of the Ijaws arrested and now in detention in Edo Police Command as Comrade Daniel Ezekiel, Sam Ebiwana, Abiodun Peter Eda, Olu Priye Oyeh, Mr Olu Derimo and a certain boy, whose identity was yet to be ascertained.
Ozobo, who addressed the press on behalf of others, said the trio of Comrade Ezekiel, Ebiwana and Eda were arrested on June 27 by SARS operatives at about 11:00a.m at Olodiama Kingdom.
He said Oyeh and Derimo were picked up in a Gestapo-like manner on June 29 and Monday, July 1, as well as the boy, who was on an errand to deliver victuals to Oyeh in police detention.
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The groups said all efforts so far made by their lawyers to even gain access to the Ijaw detainees in the custody of the Edo Police Command have been unsuccessful.
They accused the Department of State Security (DSS), SARS under the Edo Police Command of alleged intimidation and harassment of members of the Ijaw communities in Olodiama kingdom by the alleged directive of the Benin kingdom and the Edo State government.
The groups, therefore, called on the IGP to effect the release of the six Ijaws whom, they said, have been in incarceration beyond the required period as stipulated in the constitution.
They warned that further incarceration of the six persons without recourse to the courts for trial could orchestrate a breakdown of law and order.
Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Edo State Police Command, Mr Chidi Nwabuzor, who was contacted to respond to the allegation, neither picked calls made to his mobile phone nor replied to a text message.
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