Our service was retained by the family of Everestus Obinna Maduka of Umuechem Udogadi Okporo in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State (hereinafter referred to as ‘our client’) and on whose behalf we have offered our services to defend him and secure his release pro bono.
1. Our client, Everestus Obinna Maduka is a peace loving Nigerian citizen, who went to buy baby food for his new baby at Okporo Orlu on the 1st day of August, 2021, before he was arrested by the Police near St. Damians Hospital Okporo Orlu and was whisked away to Owerri.
2. His family waited for him to come back on the sad day, when he didn’t, they became apprehensive. They were shocked when he was paraded by a press release of the Imo State, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) on the 02/08/2021 along with eighteen other persons.
3. In the 02/08/2021 open press parade by the Imo Police Command, Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka was paraded along with eighteen other persons on the allegation that they were arrested in connection with IPOB/ESN operations around Orlu and its environs. We attach herewith a copy of the picture taken from the press parade of the Imo Police Command, were our client was seen and identified.
4. Since after parading our client with eighteen other persons, there has been no attempt to contact any member of his family to inform them about the whereabouts or the reason he was arrested, detained or being investigated.
5. Our client has no connection with IPOB/ESN, neither was he involved in any attacks against the Police or any of its facilities. He was simply arrested on his way to buy baby food for his new born baby, when the Police picked him up in a raid.
6. Our client’s family made frantic efforts to locate where he was detained for possible inquiries or to see how they could offer help. But each time they tried, they were turned back by the Police at the Tiger Base, Owerri Police Command.
7. Since his family retained our services, all our efforts to locate Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka proved abortive, as no unit or formation of the Nigerian Police Force Imo Command could confirm having him in their custody.
8. However by the attached photograph, accompanying the Press Release of the Imo Police Command PPRO of 02-08-2021, Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka is 3rd from left among the paraded persons standing. It is therefore conclusive that the Imo State Police Command announced to the world that they have Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka in their custody.
9. To be more accurate, the picture of the suspects paraded by the Imo State Police PPRO clearly shows the picture was taken at the Tiger Base office of the Imo Police Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit.
10. Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka has therefore been held by the Imo State Police Command from the 1st August, 2021 till date, making it 23 days without contact with his family, no charge filed in Court, no legal representation, no access to his family.
11. Section 18 (1) of the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law No. 2 of 2020 mandates the Police to grant any person who is arrested facilities to seek legal representation, steps to furnish bail and arrangement for his release or bail.
12. Section 18 (1) of the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law No. 2 of 2020 mandates the Police to refer any matter it feels it is of Capital Nature and the suspect cannot be granted bail to the office of the Attorney General of a State for a file to be charged within a reasonable time.
13 So the question is: Where is Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka? Why is the Police refusing him access to his family and legal representation? Has the Police killed him? Even if they killed him, is it not reasonable for the Nigerian Police Force at this level of our advancement to speak to the family and their legal counsel?
14. I must state here that I have made contact with the PPRO Imo Police Command. He demanded for the name of our client and we supplied it to him. Yet for over a week, he has been unable to give us any cogent answer regarding the whereabouts of the man that was brought before his office. I wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Police, and despite acknowledging same on the 17th day of August, they have not replied me. Because of the seriousness of this matter, I also made efforts to see the Commissioner of Police in his office, but his aides refused my seeing him, saying they don’t feel it is a matter he would like to give me audience.
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15. I want to reiterate that our client the Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka is not a member of the IPOB/ESN. He was never arrested in any IPOB/ESN operation. He was unlawfully arrested in a raid at Okporo Orlu during the regime of the former Commissioner of Police, who engineered the arrest of innocent citizens of Imo State to be labeled IPOB/ESN to cover up anytime hoodlums attack Police Facilities and formations and disappear.
16. Even the arrest of an IPOB/ESN member does not empower the Nigerian Police Force to incarcerate citizens, keep them without access to legal Counsel or their family or kill them. The Nigerian Police are bound to respect the provisions of the Section 18 (1) of the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law No. 2 of 2020.
17. We therefore call up on the new Imo State Commissioner of Police to aggressively turn the tide in the brutal and oppressive regime of his predecessor by making the Imo Police Command under him to be more humane and act within the law.
18. We therefore call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Evarestus Obinna Maduka, who has been unlawfully detained by the Nigerian Police Force for over 23 days now.
Kissinger Ikeokwu Esq.
His Attorney
Reviewed by Mgbara Zion Barisuka
on
August 27, 2021
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