From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide (IYC) has called on the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police to investigate and discipline officers involved in the alleged illegal arrest and detention of a youth Activist, Mr Collins Trueman Opumie, for over two years without trial.
IYC National Spokesman Mr Ebilade Ekerefe alleged that Mr Opumie was abducted in a Gestapo manner from his base in Yenagoa and detained in underground facilities shortly after his company was shortlisted among the top three bidding firms for a contract to supply three million litres of diesel monthly by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company in 2016.
Ekerefe also disclosed that the IYC would petition the AGIP headquarters in Milan, Italy over the alleged involvement of some of the staff of the company in the unlawful arrest and detention of the victim.
According to him, the travails of Opumie, a native of Opuama Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State started shortly after his bidding scaled through in Agip and he was ‘abducted’ by men who said they were from the DSS in Yenagoa.
Erekefe stated that Opumie was accused of planning to attack oil pipelines and Agip facilities in Southern Ijaw and bundled into a car boot which took him to Abuja.
He said Opumie was denied food and water and “bled from his mouth, nose, and ears, subjected to torture and abuse by the DSS operatives and kept in their underground detention facility known as the “Hot Room” for 730 days.
Meanwhile, Opumie has filed a suit in a Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa over his alleged illegal arrest and detention, demanding 9 billion Naira in damages, praying the court to declare that his arrest, torture and subsequent detention without proper food and medical attention and access to family members for two years as a gross violation of his fundamental rights and dignity as a person.
Court records indicate that a hearing on the matter comes up at the State High Court on Wednesday, March 15.