Alleged illegal detention: Court decides Ijaw activist’s case against DSS Azip on December 8th
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The Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa has ordered further hearing and witness appearance in the case brought by an Ijaw youth activist, Comrade Collins Trueman Opumi over his alleged arrest and detention for 730 days in an underground detention facility in Abuja. It was decided on the 8th of the month. According to the Department of State DSS.
At a resumed hearing on Friday, the presiding judge, Justice Ebiyon Duke Charlie, resumed the hearing of the YHC/324/2022 case, which had been adjourned until December 8, 2023, to allow for motions and trial. .
Justice Charlie also rejected a request for an adjournment by DSS lawyer George Obiora through a letter submitted to the court regarding the mother’s death.
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Ebipurae Sese and police lawyer Silas Ebete both opposed the request for a stay in the letter, which has not been filed in court and has not been served on all parties to the case. claimed that it had not been done.
Opumiye, a Bayelsa youth activist, had filed a lawsuit seeking N9 billion in damages for his illegal arrest and detention.
He also prays that the court declare that his arrest, torture, and subsequent two-year detention without proper food, medical treatment, or access to his family constitutes false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. .
In eight prayers before the court, Opumi “sought an order of the court against the defendants jointly and severally for the damages suffered as a result of their two years of wrongful imprisonment in the custody of the DSS (second group of defendants).” In the trial of false and malicious accusations/reports against Ajip (Gate 1 defendant), he was held in jail without bail and without arraignment in court. ”
He is also seeking an “injunction restraining the second and third defendants from further harassment and the first defendant’s attempts to arrest and detain the plaintiff at trial.”
Mr. Opumi, an indigene of Opuama community in Aijau Local Government Area, southern part of the state, and one of the Niger Delta youths who accepted the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP), said in his statement of claim that the DSS in Yenagoa had kidnapped him. He was accused of having done so. An example of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) conducting a Gestapo-style operation.
He said that without his family’s knowledge, he was physically and mentally tortured, tied up, thrown into the trunk of a car, and taken to Abuja like any common criminal.
Meanwhile, traditional leaders of the Enywari and Ogiama peoples of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have expressed support for the legal action against the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and the Department of State Services (DSS).
The Chairman of the Southern Ijaw Traditional Rulers Council and the Amananawe Community of Enewari, His Highness Job David Dailas, expressed confidence in the judiciary’s ability to expedite action on the case and ensure that justice is served.
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Source: dailypost.ng