2 months ago
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The Agunese-Mmaku community in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State has expressed concern over a looming potential breakdown of law and order as a result of constant police harassment, arrest, and detention of community members on “trumped-up allegations.”
The community, through the Agunese-Mmaku Development Union, appealed to the police high command under the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to order the immediate release of those being held at various police detention facilities and correctional facilities on such charges.
In a statement made available to South East PUNCH on Monday in Enugu, which was signed by Mr Okike Simeon and Okolo Norbert Abba-Nebo, the President-General and Secretary-General of AMDU, respectively, the community condemned the arrest of Mr Vincent Okafor, a Lagos-based senior lawyer, and two others, who were recently arraigned and remanded in Nigerian Correctional Service custodian centre by the police for allegedly “promoting local war” in his hometown, Agunese Mmaku.
They described the charge as baseless, adding that it served the interest of the traditional ruler, who didn’t want opposition voice and had been using the police as a tool to hound and silence dissenting voices.
AMDU also appealed to the governor of the state, Dr. Peter Mbah, to intervene, save the people from the harrowing experience, and ensure lasting peace in the community.
They lamented that the incessant arrest and detention of kinsmen was causing tension and threatening the peace in the community.
They said, “We condemn in the strongest terms the arrest and detention of our people by the Enugu State Police Command, particularly Messrs Theophilus Chukwu, David Okeke and Barr Vincent Okafor, on trumped-up charges without investigation or prosecution.
“The police insinuation that the arrested men were involved in war-like activities in our community and using guns and cutlasses to pursue our traditional ruler, Igwe Cyprian Nevobasi, is untrue, unfounded, baseless and an attempt to give a dog a bad name just to hang it.
“The persons mentioned as allegedly perpetrating these acts capable of breaching public peace in our community are responsible and highly-placed members of our community and never visited the village within the period in question.”
They alleged that presently, other sons of their community are hounded by the police, even as “the circumstances leading to their arrests and detention were predicated on an extant matter, which the community had discussed and rested and directed all parties to sheath their swords and give peace a chance for the development of the community.”
The community made it clear that there were no personal issues between the affected persons, stressing that “the issues in question had to do with disagreements over modalities for electing town union executives in 2021.”
The community leaders stated that the crime committed by those presently being hounded into detention was that they, as many others, insisted that the town union should be independent, even while it works in concert with the traditional stool for the overall development of their community.
They added, “We are therefore shocked that even when the entire community had discussed and resolved this matter, certain vested interests that feel the town union must be an extension of their realm are busy investing resources and time to ensure that all those that canvassed for an independent town union are put out of circulation with neither cause their actions nor reason their guide.”
The community maintained that the petitions were the handiwork of mischief makers who were bent on heating the community and planting the seeds of discord among the people.
The community insisted that “the Nigerian Police should stop further arrests and detention of our people as this is creating enormous tension in our community and capable of further breaching our peace.
“The Nigerian Police should, without delay, release those already in their custody. The Nigerian Police should urgently unmask the faceless petitioners and compel them to prove the veracity of their claims or face the full weight of the law.”
