Anger and moral indignation swelled further yesterday over the continued detention of businessman, Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, by the security services.
The leadership of the pan-Igbo socio- cultural group, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo (Worldwide), waded into the fray and asked the Federal Government to call to order the Department of State Services (DSS).
The youth wing of Ohanaeze has also begun the mobilisation of 100 lawyers to press for Ubah’s release without further delay. The group said that it has begun preparations to storm the Federal High Court on May 18, 2017, slated for the hearing of the case.
In a reaction on Monday to the DSS refusal to free Ubah or obey the order of the court, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. John Nnia Nwodo, condemned the continued detention of Ubah.
Nwodo said that Ohanaeze was disturbed by the DSS defiance of the court order to produce Ubah in court last Friday. Ohanaeze described the action of the security agency as a violation of Dr. Ubah’s fundamental human rights, adding that it amounted to impunity on the side of the DSS.
He urged the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, to call the DSS to order. Nwodo, speaking for the apex Igbo organization, said that what transpired between Dr Ubah, the Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Ltd., and the Nigerian Na tional Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was a mere unsettled business transaction with claims by both parties.
He stressed that Ubah’s claims have not been proved to be wrong by the NNPC. Nwodo said: “Ohaneze Ndigbo insists that the refusal to respect a court order is unconstitutional and strikes at the very foundation of our legal system. It breeds impunity. No reasonable government will condone this.”
“The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) must call the DSS to order. Ifeanyi Ubah must be presumed innocent until proven guilty”.
Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos, had on Tuesday, May 9, 2017 ordered the DSS to produce Ubah in court last Friday and to explain why he should not be released unconditionally.
The DSS is yet to comply with the court order. Meanwhile, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) has vowed to storm the High Court with 100 lawyers in solidarity with Ubah on May 18 when he is expected to be arraigned by the DSS.
The South East youth group condemned his continued detention by DSS over a business dispute with the NNPC, describing it as an affront on Ndigbo. The National President of OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, in an interview with our Reporter on Monday in Umuahia, vowed to mobilise Igbo youths to show solidarity with Ubah during the planned court session in Lagos.
Isiguzoro urged Igbo youths to troop out to Enugu en mass for onward movement to Lagos on May 17. The OYC helmsman vowed that the umbrella South East youth body would use all legal means to resist any attempt to rubbish or harass any Igbo son or daughter.
He wondered why the DSS would resort to media trial of Ubah or assume the role of the court in a matter that was a mere civil transaction. OYC had earlier in a press statement described Ubah’s ordeal as part of the plot to persecute and humiliate illustrious Igbo sons and daughters.
The statement read in part: “We yet again condemn this endless clampdown on Igbo sons and daughters by Federal Government agencies.”
“It has now become a tradition that no week passes without either the EFCC or the DSS coming after an Igbo son or daughter. It is a sad commentary considering that these persons are always detained for a prolonged period than permitted by law. We condemn a situation where people are detained before investigations are carried out on the issues leading to their arrest”.
The National Association of South East Nigeria Students (NASENS) has also demanded Ubah’s immediate release. NASENS, in a press statement issued by Dr. Kingsley Dozie Lawrence, described Ubah’s detention as illegal and a violation of his fundamental rights and an affront on Ndigbo.
The union urged the Federal Government to stop treating Igbos as second class citizens, warning that no section of the country should be treated as slaves. The students’ body, which fixed its national convention in June, called on South East political elite to unite against Igbo marginalisation.
