A Nigerian citizen who hails from Onicha-Ohozara in Ebonyi State but resides in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Mr Okechukwu Okereke has cried to the Inspector General of Police, the Rivers State governor, Sir Sim Fubara and the general public, to prevail on the Rivers State Police commissioner and the state Police Command to bring back his son, Chukwudi Okereke, who was arrested on January 11, 2024 by a C4I team of the Rivers State Police Command (the crack squad) led by ASP Mike and Felix.
Chukwudi, aged 33, a father of three, who sells motor spare parts at Anyama, Ikoku area of Port Harcourt, was whisked away from his business area by the C4i team who stormed the place with two vehicles – a Toyota Sienna and a Toyota Corolla. The policemen were dressed in plain clothes during the operation.
Initially, no reason was given for his arrest, neither did the police disclose where they were taking him to. The immediate younger brother of Chukwudi, Chibueze Okereke disclosed that after the arrest of his brother, he traced him to the C4I Station at Diobu but was surprised the officers there denied arresting him, saying that there was no record of such arrest. Several efforts made to trace where he was being held proved abortive until Chibueze complained to his friend who is a policeman.
It was through the intervention of the friendly officer that the C4I Unit (Octopus Squad) agreed that Chukwudi, who they claimed they arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping, was in their custody. Even after admitting that he was in their custody, they have continued to hold him incommunicado, denying people, including his lawyer, and family members, access to him.
“We are worried that the police have continued to deny us access to him; this is unfair and an unjustifiable punishment to his entire family,” said his brother who lamented that since Chukwudi’s disappearance, he has been traumatized and devastated. He said he knows his brother very well as a gentle, peace-loving and God-fearing man.
He said his fear is that the policemen who have been holding his brother hostage without allowing any of his family members, including his wife and father, to set their eyes on him, may have brought harm on him as he has been alleged to be subjected to severe torture.
A source revealed that Chukwudi may have died during a torture session by the ASP MIKE and his team of torturers. The source revealed that Chukwudi and two others who were arrested with him, were taken away from their detention cell to a torture ground where he was subjected to floggings and severe beatings to force him to admit that he was involved in kidnapping. He was said to be shouting and begging them that he had been sick and was still receiving treatment. Injuries were alleged to have been inflicted on him, and he was bleeding through the nose and also vomiting blood. After that torture session, he was not returned to the cell again, according to the source.
It was gathered that prior to his arrest, Chukwudi was been battling with sickness, which kept him away from his business area for over two weeks. The day he was arrested was the first day he went to market after over two weeks, a source told this publication.
A human rights defender, Samuel Robinson of Global Rights Foundation for Peace, has condemned the treatment meted out to Chukwudi, stating that it is unjust to hold a suspect incommunicado for more than two weeks without trial.
He called on the police to release Chukwudi or charge him to court if they feel strongly that he committed any offence. The activist also called on the police to release his corpse for proper burial if they have actually tortured him to death.
On their parts, the South South zone of the Civil Liberties Organization, CLO and the Centre for Environment Humab Rights and Development, CEHRD, said the continued detention of Chukwudi without trial is a gross violation of his human rights, including the right to liberty and right to fair hearing, as guaranteed by human rights instruments and the Nigerian 1999 Constitution.
The foremost human rights bodies reminded the police that suspects are supposed to be charged to a court of competent jurisdiction within 24 or 48 hours of arrest, noting that the Nigeria Police have become notorious for holding people in their cells on trumped-up charges just to extort money from them.
The continued solitary confinement of the young man without trial is a violation of human rights which even the constitution of Nigeria under which the police operate frowns at. The Police Commissioner should do the needful and allow the family, lawyer and friends access to the victim as well as order his release or prosecute him in court, the rights defenders insisted.
