IPOB: Nigeria Police Detaining Gloria Okolie For 67 Days Is Heinous Crime, NHRC Says

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has described the detention of one Gloria Okolie (21) by the Nigerian Police for “over 67 days” as a heinous crime which contravenes the fundamental human rights of citizens.

Police had arrested her on the allegation that she was connected to the operations of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Fijnigeria reported that the Police Force Headquarters, Abuja, had said the lady was apprehended for “her complicity in the series of deliberate and well-coordinated attacks on security formations and other critical national infrastructure, including INEC offices, and killing of security operatives in the South-Eastern part of the country”.

But the NHRC Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tony Ojukwu Esq, said security agents holding someone in custody beyond the time approved by law was an unwholesome act on the part of those involved.

He said, in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER that “perpetrators of such heinous crime must be immediately brought to justice… and must be accounted for, to serve as a deterrent.”

The NHRC boss also said that the allegation that the police were now harrassing the lady couldn’t be swept under the carpet.

He advised the police to unconditonally release her or charge her to court in line with constitutional provisions.

“Ojukwu became more disturbed upon learning that the victim, while being detained, was used as a slave girl to the officers and was terribly abused, washing clothes, sent on errands to buy stuffs for officers, tortured by some of the officers in charge of her detention hence the need for her release without further delay.

“The Commission is therefore using this medium to demand the immediate and unconstitutional release of the detainee or in alternative charge her to a court of competent jurisdiction so that she will enjoy the right to fair hearing and the opportunity to defend the allegations against her, if any,” the statement partly read.

Ojukwu expressed shock that despite the trainings some police officers go through, reports of gross violations of huamn rights were still attributed to the force and other security agents.

“On our part as a national institution saddled with the responsibilities of promotion, protection and enforcement of rights of citizens and foreigners resident in Nigeria, we have not missed any available opportunity to educate and train Police personnel and indeed other law enforcement agents on human rights issues, the NHRC Act (as amended) as well as other National, Regional and International human rights instruments to which Nigeria is a signatory”, Ojukwu said.