Ijaw Youth Council call for release of 50 N-Delta activists who have been in detention without trial for over a year

The Ijaw Youth Council under the leadership of Eric Omare has called for the urgent release of about 50 Niger Deltan activists allegedly arrested and detained without trial for over a year by security agencies in the country.

Highlighting the plight of the detained persons, IYC spokesperson, Henry Iyala disclosed that the spokesperson of Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, Mr Daniel Ezekiel, was recently released by the Department of State Services, DSS, after a year and three months in detention. He also accused security agencies of human rights abuse perpetrated against the detainees and refusal to release them on bail.

He disclosed that the aid of international bodies have been solicited as letters were written to the United Nations Human Rights Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, Mr. Zeid Al Hussein, Africa Commission on Human, Peoples’ Rights and the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC of Nigeria, urging them to wade into the continued detention of the activists.
He said:

“The IYC states that the continued detention of these Niger Deltans without trial amounts to a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria on fundamental human rights. These international instruments and local laws guarantee citizens’ rights to personal liberty and obligate security agencies to charge anybody that is arrested in suspicion of having committed an offence within 24 hours or a reasonable time.

“The IYC states that most of the Niger Deltans in detention have spent more than a year in detention without trial. In some cases, the courts have made orders for their release, but the relevant security agencies refused to obey the order and release them on bail."

 Source: Vanguard