Follow Us on Google
From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
A coalition of concerned and independent legal practitioners representing families of detained and alleged missing persons in the South East, falsely accused of being Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) members, have appealed to the international community to intervene in what it described as the prolonged detention and alleged disappearance of youths in the region.
A statement by Olusegun Adekoya, on behalf of the independent legal team working with human rights group, Fiat Justicia Juris, which said they were acting on the instructions of the Head, Directorate of State of the IPOB, Mazi Chris Nwaọgụ, stated that families of the detained youths have endured years of uncertainty for relatives allegedly arrested during security operations in the South East.
While stressing that their intervention was based on constitutional rights and the rule of law, the team called on the federal government to either charge the detained youths to court or release them unconditionally.
The lawyers, speaking at a press conference in Umuahia, Abia State, said their demand was for all those accused of offences to either be charged and tried before competent courts or released where there is no sufficient evidence against them.
Reminding the Federal Government that detention must not become a substitute for trial, the lawyers particularly raised concerns over allegations that some suspects arrested in the South East were transferred to distant military detention facilities, including the Wawa facility in Niger State, and allegedly held for prolonged periods without being brought before civilian courts.
They argued that the proscription of IPOB could not, by itself, extinguish the constitutional rights of individual Nigerians.
Other News
“An allegation of association with ‘a proscribed organisation’ should not automatically translate into indefinite detention. Produce them. Charge those against whom admissible evidence exists. Try them before competent civilian courts. Release those against whom there is none,” the lawyers demanded.
They cited the case of Mrs Calista Ifedi, who they said had reportedly been detained since 2021 over an alleged connection with IPOB and was later reported to have died in custody. The lawyers demanded that her remains be produced to her family and that the circumstances surrounding her death be properly investigated.
The group also announced plans to present photographic evidence, medical reports, affidavits, and testimonies from families and survivors at a subsequent briefing.
They said “the grieving families want to know where their relatives are, whether they are alive, and, where evidence exists against them, when they will finally face trial.”
The team announced plans to compile a comprehensive register of missing persons based on sworn statements from affected families, with a view to submitting the documentation to relevant international and regional human-rights bodies.
The lawyers appealed to the United Nations, African Union, European Union, United States, United Kingdom, and other international actors to pay closer attention to allegations of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and unlawful killings in the South East.
