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| Moses Agbo missing or dead? Mandatory Question SSS Must Answer Within 14 Days Concerning The Death Or Alive Of Detained Zaky El-Zaky, Malama El-Zaky And Pro Biafra Campaigners |
(Intersociety, Onitsha Nigeria, 15th January 2017)-The
leadership of International Society for
Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) is deeply pained as it
concerns Nigeria’s steady sink to lawlessness and governance brigandage.
Nigeria’s justice and liberty governance and ethics have been so damaged that
their recovery from the catastrophic damage is practically a difficult task.
Sad too, is the fact that the
country now witnesses the rise and official institutionalization of criminal sainthood; where criminal
entities that have practically taken up arms against the Government and People
of Nigeria and massacred over 25,000 mostly religiously and ethnically targeted
Nigerians such as predominant Christian Ethnic Nationalities of Igbo and others
since 2009, are now governmentally rewarded and seemed to have been enlisted
for national merit awards; whereas innocent citizens who non-violently assert
their constitutional and international rights to citizenship, development,
identity, worship and self determination, are labelled and treated
governmentally as “terrorists” and “treasonable felons”.
Just recently, the Chief of Army
Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai was quoted and heavily criticized for
describing the Free Chibok Girls
Campaigners as Advocacy Terrorists and
their campaign as Advocacy Terrorism. As
we speak, thousands of arrested Boko Haram suspects are presidentially petted
and treated as repentant Boko Haram members or released in droves as “cleared
Boko Haram suspects”; while scores of innocent, nonviolent and defenceless
Nigerians are being violently attacked by SSS and clamped into incommunicado
detention without trial over spurious criminal allegations of “being
terrorists” and “treasonable felons”.
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| Asochukwu Boniface |
It is recalled that Major Gen
Muhammadu Buhari (as he then was) had in the dark hours of 31st December 1983
violently ousted the democratically elected government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari
and enacted Decree No 2 of 1984, cited as the
Nigerian State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2 of 1984, which
allowed for indefinite and incommunicado detention of Nigerian citizens. The
State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree Number 2 of 1984 also suspended
indefinite the constitutional freedoms or Fundamental Human Rights Chapter of
the then 1979 civilian Constitution and empowered the chief of staff, Supreme
Headquarters, to detain indefinitely (subject to review every three months)
anyone suspected of "acts prejudicial to state security or contributing to
the economic adversity of the nation." The Decree also authorized any
police officer or a member of the armed forces to arrest and detain such a
person at will and without trial.
The Buhari Administration has
also technically suspended the Fundamental Human Rights Chapter of the 1999 Constitution
and taken refuge in moribund and obnoxious legislations such as Section 27 of
the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 as amended in 2013 as well as the moribund
Decree No 2 of 1984 under which scores of innocent Nigerians including the
leader of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim Zaky El-Zaky, his wife,
Malama Zeenatu and over a dozen nonviolent Pro Biafra Campaigners and members
of IPOB have been clamped into incommunicado detention for several months
without trial.
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| Bright Chimezie |
Under these obnoxious provisions
which grossly run contrary and inconsistent with Section 1 (3) (supremacy of
the Constitution above any other law) and Section 35 (4) (detention of citizens
for whatever alleged crimes not exceeding 60 days without bail and 90 days with
bail, but without court trial) of 1999 Constitution; innocent and dissent
voices are recklessly arrested by SSS, labelled “terrorists” and clamped into incommunicado
detention for several months without trial and tortured severely in custody.
All the citizens presently in the SSS custody, drawn from IPOB and IMN have
never used or advocated violence. They were arrested in their sleep or shops or
on transit.
The arrested citizens are
routinely stigmatized and criminalized by the State and its SSS and where any
detained citizen is rarely arraigned; he or she is expressly subjected to prosecutorial
vindictiveness or slammed with obnoxious and trumped up criminal
charges. Most of them are also arrested in their sleep, detained for months
after which roguish ex parte orders are sought and obtained to further detain
them for 90 additional days with limitless renewal upon expiration of every
three months until the investigation is concluded. These the Buhari
Administration and its SSS do under obnoxious Section 27 of the Terrorism
Prevention Act of 2011 as amended in 2013, among other questionable procedures
and processes.
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| Ekene Onuoha |
Court orders and other judicial
pronouncements condemning detention of citizens above 60 days and ordering for
their unconditional release in accordance with Section 35 (4) of the 1999
Constitution have been flouted and disobeyed by the Buhari Administration and
its SSS with reckless abandon.
For instance, the leader of the
Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim Zaky El-Zaky and his wife, Malama Zeenatu
are the longest serving detainees without court trial in the history of
democratic Nigeria or since 1999. The Shiite leader and his wife have been held
incommunicado by SSS for over 13 months. They were shot and battered by
soldiers after a thousand of their followers were killed or went missing between
12th and 14th December 2015 in Zaria, Kaduna State. While
the IMN leader had 18 bullets reportedly removed from his body, his wife had
four bullets removed from her body as well. It is feared in some informed
quarters as whether the IMN leader and his wife are still alive or have died in
SSS custody. Since they were shot half dead by Lt Gen Tukur Buratai led
Nigerian Army and taken into SSS custody on 14th of December 2015,
they have not been brought to public or allowed access to be seen by their
biological relatives.
13 nonviolent Pro Biafra
Campaigners and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have also
been arrested and detained incommunicado by SSS for several months without
trial in the ongoing violent crackdown launched by the Buhari Administration
and its SSS against IPOB members particularly in the Southeast and the
South-south regions of Nigeria. The Buhari Administration also massacred over
250 of the group’s members and supporters and terminally shot and injured over
300 others in over eight different locations in Anambra, Abia, Delta and Rivers
States between August 2015 and May 2016.
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| Justice Udo |
The names of the solitarily
detained IPOB members are: (1) Citizen
Justice O. Udo. He was arrested by SSS in
Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the mid
night of 13th July 2016 and thrown into indefinite detention without
trial till date; a period of over six months or 18 days. (2) Citizen Sunday
Chukwuka Obasi was arrested by SSS in the late night of 16th August
2016 in Nnewi, Anambra State; shot at his two legs and thrown into indefinite
detention without trial as at December 2016; a period of over four months.
(3) Citizens Ikechukwu Ugwuoha, (4) Asochukwu
Boniface Ugochukwu, (5) Sunday J. Okafor, (6) Ekene Onuoha and (7) Joseph
Okorie (Ogbuawa) were arrested by SSS on 24th August 2016 at Ugba
Junction, near Aba in Abia State at about 7.30am on their way back from Kuje
Prison (where they had gone to see their leader, Nnamdi Kanu) and thrown into
indefinite detention without trial till date; a period of almost five months
each. (8) Citizen Bright Chimezie. He was arrested by Police in Akwa Ibom State
at business hours of 16th September 2016 and handed over to the SSS,
which took him into incommunicado detention without trial till date; a period
of four months. (9) Citizen Ndubuisi Arum (High Chief Oko) was arrested by SSS
in Aba, Abia State in October 2016 and detained incommunicado without trial
till date; a period of over three months.
(10) Citizen Eta Stephen Bassey is a 45yrs old
Principal of the Wisdom Child International School in Bokokiri area of Port
Harcourt in Rivers State. He is also the
Financial Secretary of IPOB in Bundu Unit Town Zone 1 of the organization in
Rivers State and hails from Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State. He
was abducted by SSS at the business hours of 3rd November 2016
around Victoria Street/Aggrey Road area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State where
he had gone to buy “suya” meat and till date; a period of 72 days, he has
remained in solitary detention of the SSS. His mobile phone number as released
by his close associates is +2348034284857.
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| Sunday okafor |
(11) Citizen Moses Agbo is a
member of the Biafra Family Writers. He was arrested by SSS on the Christmas
Eve of December 2016 after he visited Citizen Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje Prison and
till date; a period of 21 days, he is still held incommunicado by the SSS
without trial. (12) Citizen Udochukwu Nelson, (13) Citizen Echeie Osten and
(14) Citizen Rose... were arrested at their market shops at the business hours of 13th January 2017
by SSS in Rumuola area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State and they are still
being held incommunicado as of today. Information available at our advocacy
disposal also clearly indicates that all of the SSS detainees are gravely
tortured to incriminate themselves and confess to spurious allegations of their
involvement in “terrorism” and “treasonable felony”. Citizen Bright Chimezie,
for instance, is said to have had his two legs broken by his SSS torturers in
the Akwa Ibom State Directorate of the Service in Uyo.
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| Ugwuoha Ikechukwu |
All the circumstances, processes
and procedures under which the above named innocent Nigerians were arrested,
accused, tortured and held incommunicado are totally foreign, strange and
unknown to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the African Charter on
Human and Peoples Rights and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; all ratified by Nigeria in 1983 and
1993.
By Section 1(3) of the 1999
Constitution, the 1999 Constitution is supreme, commander-in-chief and general
overseer of all other laws in Nigeria. By Section 35(4) of the 1999
Constitution, Section 27 of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 as amended in 2013
is dead and buried; by virtue of its gross inconsistency with the said
Section as it concerns deadline for detention of citizens accused of whatever
crime in Nigeria. By Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution, all other existing and newly
created laws in Nigeria are mandatorily subject to the provisions of the 1999
Constitution and shall be brought in tandem and consistency by amendment or
modifications with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. By Section
287(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the decisions of the Federal High Court, the
FCT High Court and the State High Court shall be forced in any part of the
Federation by all authorities and persons and by other courts of law with
subordinate jurisdiction to that of the above named courts.
Instances of decided cases also abound. In a
landmark judgment delivered on 17th December 2015 by Hon Justice
A.F.A Ademola of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/873/15 (SSS v Nnamdi
Kanu), the Judge while reversing his 10th November 2015
unconstitutional ex parte order for additional 90 days detention of the
Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu) for spurious allegations of “terrorism and terrorism
financing” by SSS held as follows:
....besides, there is no doubt that
constitutional provisions remain supreme and every citizen’s rights are
strictly protected and jealously guarded by Courts-see also Hassan v EFCC
(supra). For the period spanning over two months, the Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu)
remained in Respondent (SSS)’s custody. The Applicant is yet to be charged
formally of all terrorism suspicion before a Court of competent jurisdiction.
From the foregoing, therefore,
this Court holds that: (a) the Respondents are not ready to grant the Applicant
bail as per the Order of the Chief Magistrate Court; (b) the Respondents lack
enough material to prosecute the Applicant; (c) the Respondents are yet to make
up their mind on the Applicant.
Therefore, whilst the Respondents
are pondering on their next steps, this Court holds that the Applicant’s
detention for more than two months in Respondent’s custody without filing
charges before a Court of competent jurisdiction on suspected crime is contrary
to Section 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution.
The Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu) is
hereby released unconditionally pursuant to Section 35 (4) of the 1999
Constitution and in view of the Respondent’s admission that there is no pending
charge against the Applicant. This landmark judgment was not only flouted
and disobeyed by the SSS, but also the Nigerian Army at the Onitsha Bridgehead
in Anambra State shot and killed over ten innocent citizens and wounded scores
of others in protest.
Similarly on 1st
December 2016, another Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, presided over
by Hon Justice Gabriel Kolawole declared the continued detention of the leader
of IMN, Ibrahim El-ZakyZaky and his wife, Malama Zeenatu without court trial as
unconstitutional and ordered for their unconditional release within 45 days as
well as payment of monetary compensation amounting to N25Million each to Malam
Zaky El-Zaky and his wife, Malama Zeenatu.
The duo had been in solitary
detention without trial since 14th of December 2015. They were shot
severally at close range by Nigerian Army and a total of 22 live bullets were
reportedly removed from their bodies: 18 bullets from Malam El-Zaky’s body and
four from his wife-Zeenatu. It is unclear whether they are still alive or dead
in SSS custody. Today marks the expiration of the 45 days judicial order for
their unconditional release and as expected, it is again flouted and disobeyed
by SSS.
Yesterday being 14th
January 2017 marked 390 days or 13 months since Malam ZakyZaky and his wife
Malama Zeenatu were taken into SSS custody and detained incommunicado without
trial. This is unheard of in the history of democratic Nigeria or since 1999.
Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and Citizen Dave Nwawuisi have also marked 450 days or 15
months in solitary detention yesterday having been arrested by SSS on 14th
October 2015. Citizen Benjamin Madubugwu had also marked 18 months or 540 days
in solitary detention having been arrested since July 2015. The trio of Kanu,
Nwawuisi and madubugwu have remained at pre-trial proceedings or detained
without bail till date.
We are therefore compelled to add
our advocacy voice to that of the Legal Defense team of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and
ors who disclosed in the open Court on 10th January 2017 that “nine
IPOB members who visited Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje Prison have been killed by SSS
after they were arrested and taken into its custody”. This is in addition to the fact that Citizens
Justice O. Udo, Sunday Chuks Obasi, Ikechukwu Ugwuoha, Asochukwu Boniface
Ugochukwu, Sunday Okafor, Ekene Onuoha, Joseph Okorie, Bright Chimezie,
Ndubuisi Arum and Eta Stephen Bassey have been solitarily held dead or alive by
SSS for several months after they were arrested and detained without trial.
Since the dates of their arrest, their families, lawyers and physicians have
been denied access to them.
Consequently, the authorities of
the SSS are hereby called upon to produce publicly and bodily alive the named
solitary detainees in its custody including Malam Ibrahim Zaky El-Zaky and his
wife-Malama Zeenatu. Their public presentation must be covered by the trio of
dependent and independent print, visual/audio visual and online media. The
solitary detainees, who must include all the 13 detained IPOB members, must not
only be publicly and bodily produced, but also be made to speak to Nigerians
independently and coherently in live media coverage.
These the SSS must do within two
weeks; otherwise all Nigerians including this Organization shall have cogent
reasons to conclude that some or all of them including the detained Islamic
cleric and his wife have been killed by SSS in its custody as alleged. We also
demand for immediate and unconditional release of all 13 detained Pro Biafra
Campaigners and the leader of Shiite Muslim and his wife.
As we have repeatedly demanded,
the SSS and the Buhari Administration must end violent crackdown on nonviolent
Pro Biafra Campaigners and members of the Shiite Muslim Community. Such huge
State energies and resources being wasted in persecuting Pro Biafra Campaigners
and Shiite Muslims shall be adequately channelled towards the terrorist,
felonious and genocidal activities of Boko Haram and Fulani terrorists that
killed over 2000 innocent citizens in 2016 alone.
Note: The attached pictures are: 1 Citizen Ekene Onuoha, 2 Asochukwu
Boniface, 3 Bright Chimezie, 4 Moses Agbo, 5 Justice O. Udo, 6 Ugwuoha
Ikechukwu, 7 Sunday Okafor and 8 Ndubuisi Arum (High Chief Oko).
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board
Chairman
International Society for
Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Call Line: +2348174090052
Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq.
Head, Civil Liberties
& Rule of Law Program
Call Line: +2348180771506
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