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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Coalition of Civil Society Groups (CCSGA), in Abia State, wants Governor Alex Otti, to investigate the activities of his Special Assistant on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Mr.Chimereze Okigbo and his team over complaints of alleged abuse of human rights and illegal arrest and detention of innocent Abians.
The coalition stated that Okigbo has allegedly been engaging some overzealous policemen and judicial officers to illegally arrest and detain people and urged the Governor to investigate the allegations and do the needful if found culpable.
It also called for an overhaul of the state IGR regime under Okigbo to maintain the integrity of the judicial officers used in mobile courts across the state.
In a letter addressed to the Governor, signed by the Chairman and Secretary, Mr. Johnson Uzor Emeh and Veronica Ijeoma Nwogu, respectively, the coalition said it received a petition from one Mr. Chinonso Nwizu, a staff of Unik D Limited, an Aba based haulage and logistics company, who was arrested and detained for two days and taken to court by the police at the behest of Okigbo, without committing any offence.
The coalition explained that on May 30, Nwizu who is a manager in the company got a call from his driver that the company truck had been seized by enforcers of “daily tickets” in Aba where he was offloading goods, even when the company had bought daily ticket.
“On May 30, 2024, at about 9 am, Nwizu got a call from a driver of the company that one of the company trucks was seized by the enforcers of daily tickets in Aba. They carried his battery, accusing him of obstruction and plying one way traffic; a vehicle that was stationary and offloading goods.
“He got to the scene and showed them his daily tickets already obtained and paid. Mr. Nwizu told them that the vehicle and the driver committed no offense, neither of obstruction nor one way traffic.
“The team outing like touts removed the battery from the engine and asked for N250,000 before the battery will be given back and he will be exonerated from the cooked up charges.”
The coalition further disclosed that the IGR team dumped the manager at the police station from 10 am to 6.30 pm when they arraigned him at the mobile court.
“At the mobile court, the magistrate ordered that they should remove handcuffs from him as it was a very shameful sight inside the court” and that despite the fact the accused pleaded not guilty, “The magistrate ordered that he should pay N250,000”, before he would be allowed to go.
