An advocacy group under the aegis of the Indigenous Ethnic Youth Leaders of Nigeria (IEYLN), threatened a showdown with the Nigeria Police if the National President of the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), Comrade Igboayaka Igboayaka, who is reportedly being detained by the Ebonyi State Command is not released with immediate effect and unconditionally.
The Ohanaeze Youth President was reportedly abducted by unknown people last Saturday at Ochez Suites, Works Layout, Owerri, Imo State capital, shortly after he was declared the winner of the OYC presidential election at the Council’s national convention, with initial fears being that he had been kidnapped.
Efforts to trace his whereabouts were also futile as the police in the state denied knowledge of his abduction but in a statement on Monday, the Ebonyi State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Joshua Ukandu, confirmed that Igboayaka was indeed arrested following a petition submitted to the Commissioner of Police and was detained at the Command headquarters in Abakiliki.
The police spokesperson stated that the petitioner whose identity he did not disclose, had accused Igboayaka of spreading false information capable of truncating peace and destabilising communities in the state.
Following the press release by the police spokesman, the IEYLN, in a statement on Tuesday morning, threatened to embark on nationwide protests if Igboayaka is not released immediately.
In the statement signed by its National Chairman, Gonet Nensok Luka, the IEYLN said the manner in which Igboayaka was arrested was akin to abduction by state apparatus.
“The news reached us that some armed men in their numbers dressed in black, driving Toyota Sienna and SUV cars came around 7:30pm on the 8th and abducted him from Owerri, Imo State capital to an unknown destination, leaving the people around in high tension,” the group statement said.
“This makes us wonder why an organised government institution like Nigeria police force acting gangsterism and not inviting members of the public for questioning but chose to throw the public into tension by whisking away Igboayaka as if he refused arrest.
“This is clear intimidation by the Nigerian Police, and we demand his release with immediate effect. We know the rules of police and public engagement, if someone has written a petition against him the right thing to do is to invite him.
“But coming in an ungodly hour to whisk him away to an unknown destination like a criminal is barbaric.
“We are calling on the Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police CP Anthonia Adaku-Uche, and the Zone 9 Commander AIG Suleiman Yusuf to act within the ambit of the law.
“They shouldn’t allow politicians to use them to intimidate law abiding citizens.
“We are calling on the attention of the Inspector General of Police to this unlawful arrest and detention of Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka by the Ebonyi State Command.
“We demand his release with immediate effect to avoid our lawful protest across the country.”
