By Albert Akota
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decried the practice of illegally detaining citizens by some law enforcement agencies beyond the Constitutionally stipulated “reasonable” time, saying that such an unwholesome act is a gross violation of human rights and must be accounted for, to serve as a deterrent.
Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tony Ojukwu, who stated this in Abuja while reacting to the alleged illegal detention of one Gloria Okolie by the Nigerian Police Authorities for over 67 days, observed that such unprofessional conduct cannot be tolerated in the 21st Century policing and that perpetrators of such heinous crime must be immediately brought to justice.
Ojukwu became more disturbed upon learning that the victim while being detained was used as a slave girl to the officers and was terribly abused, washing clothes, sent on errands to buy stuffs for officers, tortured by some of the officers in charge of her detention.
“The Commission is therefore using this medium to demand the immediate and unconstitutional release of the detainee or in alternative charge her to a court of competent jurisdiction so that she will enjoy the right to fair hearing and the opportunity to defend the allegations against her, if any.”
