The lawyer condemned security agencies relationship with politicians.
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has alleged that officials of the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Security Service, SSS, were involved in the four months ‘detention’ of Enugu State’s First Lady, Clara Chime.
Mr. Falana made the allegation at the launching of the book, ‘Honour For Sale, An Insider Account of the Murder of Dele Giwa by Major Debo Bashorun’, in Lagos on Friday.
“I have discovered that the police and SSS helped the governor in confining his wife in a room for four months incommunicado,” Mr. Falana said.
Earlier this month, Mrs. Chime was reported to have sent a letter to Mr. Falana, claiming that she had been detained in the government house by her husband, Governor Sullivan Chime. This led the lawyer to write a petition to the Inspector General of Police, and the National Human Rights Commission seeking an investigation into the alleged abuse of Mrs. Chime’s right of free movement.
The Governor later held a press conference confirming that he had detained his wife but only because of her ill-health.
Mr. Falana decried the presence of the security operatives at Mr. Chime’s press conference.
”The police officers were also at the press conference when the governor admitted that he has turned the government house into a psychiatric ward,” he lamented.
He stated that the connivance of the security operatives with the ruling class to oppress Nigerians was now the major threat to the nation’s democracy and rule of law. He enjoined all Nigerians to resist it.
Convoy to face manslaughter
Referring to the spate of road accidents and resulting deaths involving the Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada’s convoy, Mr. Falana noted, “Police officials and the SSS are always with these convoys that kill ordinary Nigerians.”
Mr. Wada himself broke a leg in one of the accidents while his former Aide-De-Camp, Idris Mohammed, died. In another one, which occurred in 2012, a pregnant woman was killed. The most recent one, two weeks ago, claimed the life of a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Festus Iyayi.
“Governor Wada should bear the tragic responsibility for the killing of Prof. Iyayi,” Mr. Falana said.
Acknowledging that Mr. Wada could not stand trial because of the constitutional immunity clause, Mr. Falana called for the Governor’s drivers to be charged with manslaughter.
“The desperate move to turn Nigeria into a police state must be resisted by all,” he declared.
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