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A year has passed since the leaders of the Okuama community in Ewu-Urhobo Kingdom were taken into military detention without being tried. The people of Okuama have pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to help their leaders.
The leaders were apprehended on March 14, 2024, in relation to the murder of seventeen officers and soldiers who were on a peace mission to the town.
The villagers denounced the Nigerian Army’s “flagrant violation” of their leaders’ fundamental rights at a press conference in Okuama on Monday, which was organised by Comrade Edewor Egedegbe, a Human Rights Advocate and Chairman of the Citizens Right Concern Enhancement Initiative (CRCEI).
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Professor Arthur Ekpekpo, Chief Belvis Adogbo, the late Mr. James Oghoroko, Dennis Okugbaye, Dennis Amalaka, and Mrs. Mabel Owhemu were among those named as inmates.
The community claims that the six have been refused access to family members, solicitors and doctors since their detention on August 18–19, 2024.
“The ongoing detention of our leaders without due process belittles Nigeria’s democratic system and the integrity of the legal system,” the group proclaimed. “The right to a fair hearing and the dignity of the human person are guaranteed by constitutional provisions, but the Nigerian Army has continued to act in gross disregard of these.”
Pa. James Oghoroko’s death in detention while awaiting trial has the locals worried about the wellbeing of the other inmates.
Their criticism extended to the military’s stance on the Okuama deaths probes, arguing that it went against democratic values to handle them outside of the country’s criminal justice system.
The community demanded that President Tinubu, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, and Senator Ede Dafinone step in, stating emphatically that “the continued detention of our leaders is not justified by the prima facie evidence in the possession of the military.”
Justice must be served by the investigation into the killing of the 17 troops beside the Forcados River, they said, emphasising that the people who were wrongfully arrested should also be considered.