Civil
rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA),
yesterday, flayed the Department of States Services (DSS) over its attempted
abduction of a lawmaker-elect, Onyekachukwu Ike from the Anambra State House of
Assembly complex last week.
HURIWA, in a statement by its national coordinator, Comrade
Emmanuel Onwubiko said the secret police flouted their rules of engagement and
desecrated the sanctity of the hallowed chamber with their invasion of the
Assembly Complex.
The
group said the actions of the DSS last week in Anambra is a demonstration of
one of the dangerous and unsavory lawlessness of despotic and dictatorial
military era, totally alien to democracy.
HURIWA said the DSS must stick to its constitutional and statutory
responsibilities of protecting the Nigerian state through the supplies of the
right intelligence, adding that the secret police must learn to be civil in
their approach.
Recall that commotion ensued at the Anambra Assembly Complex last
week when DSS operatives invaded the assembly complex and tried to whisk away
the lawmaker-elect for Nnewi North constituency. They arrested and bundled him
into the trunk of a car and made to leave the complex before they were stopped
by the inhouse security officials at the entrance of the Assembly Complex.
The incident reportedly happened after the said lawmaker-elect
participated in a valedictory thanksgiving service for the outgoing seventh
Assembly and it took the intervention of the deputy governor, Onyekachi Ibezim,
and the outgoing speaker, Uche Okafor to release Ike from the grip of the
secret police.
HURIWA’s
Onwubiko said, “The invasion of the Anambra State House of Assembly by DSS
operatives and their attempt to abduct lawmaker-elect is totally unconstitutional,
a desecration of the hallowed chamber and a threat to the ideals of democracy.
“The revelation that DSS operatives bundled Onyekachukwu Ike in
the trunk of a car to whisk him away before the resistance of inhouse security
men at the Assembly Complex is totally condemnable as this is against his
fundamental human rights or the rights of any citizen.
“Why
the secret police still chose to conduct themselves in a Gestapo style is still
unthinkable. Are the secret police kidnappers or armed robbers? Where are the
rules of engagements? What happens to warrant of arrest? What happens to civil
invitation to the lawmaker-elect to come to the DSS office in the state for
interrogation? Why invasion of the Assembly Complex and attempted abduction of
the lawmaker-elect?
“The
Anambra Assembly incident adds to the DSS’ infamous record of Gestapo
operations. Just a day after the inauguration of the new President last week,
the DSS occupied the Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission and barred all officials of the anti-graft agency from gaining
access to the facility.
“In October 2016, gun-wielding security agents swooped on the
residences of senior judges, breaking doors and arrested the judges who had
ruled against the DSS and condemned its disregard of the laws of the land
during its operations.
“In December 2021, the police also conducted their operations like
kidnappers and unknown gunmen when they, in a Gestapo style, invaded a church
service in the Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State and whisked away,
Uche Nwosu, a son-in-law to an ex-governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha.
“How about the July 2021 DSS Gestapo and bloody raid on the Ibadan
residence of Yoruba Nation campaigner, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho?
“The
DSS must turn a new leaf, especially under the new administration of President
Bola Tinubu who should call them to order.”
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