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As the dust is yet to settle on the invasion and restriction of movement by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on former National security Adviser, another former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan is said to be in detention since last week, with his lawyers saying he needs access to his medicine.
According to a statement made available to the Guardian from Onochie Onwuegbuna a legal practitioner with Zeran legal services, claiming to be representing Gordon Obuah, the former CSO and calling for his immediate release “as he has not been informed the facts and grounds of his detention in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.”
Obua, an operative of the DSS, like Sambo Dasuki, were appointees of Jonathan and according to the statement, the family believes that “he is being harassed and detained in furtherance of what seems to be a well calculated witch hunt, unlawful harassment gross violation of his fundamental human rights of certain “marked” individuals who served and held offices in the administration of Former President Goodluck Jonathan in other to implicate them by all means for phantom crimes or offences.”
Onwuegbuna said the woes of his clients started a few days before his was finally detained, when the Acting Director General of the Service was said to have summoned Obua to his office on several occasions without being allowed to see him for three days. It was on the fourth day that the DG informed him that there was a petition against him “without telling him the contents of the alleged Petition or the identity or the Petitioner (s)”.
According to the Lawyer’s statement, the worry is on Obua’s health as “Our Client is hypertensive and diabetic to the knowledge of his employers the SSS. and as a result he has been on daily medications to manage these very severe ailments and since his detention, he has completely been denied access to these medications. Our Client has also been denied access to members of his family, his doctor and his lawyers and even more worrisome is the information obtained by his family that he has not eaten or
drank water ever since he was detained” Not minding that he is still in service, the lawyer said, “the actions of the SSS and our Client’s subsequent detention constitute undue harassment and gross violation of his fundamental rights to respect for the dignity of his person and personal liberty as guaranteed by Sections 31 and 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “Our Client is presently languishing in the custody of the SSS without access to his medication, food, water and drugs or to any member of his family, doctors or his lawyers and in the circumstance, we hereby call on the SSS to immediately release him as he has not been informed the facts and grounds of his detention in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution”.
Source : The Guardian
Posted by Adebayo A J