Counsel to the detained Chief Security Officer (CSO) of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Gordon Obua, Onochie Onwuegbuna yesterday said the detention of his client by the Department of State Services (DSS) is a with-hunt. He noted that his client has been denied his medications despite being diabetic and hypertensive.
Onwuegbuna said that Obua was detained by the DSS on Thursday in its ongoing investigation of the spending of security funds as well as oil theft in the Jonathan administration. Onwuegbuna in a statement issued in Abuja, however, complained about the conditions under which his client is being detained. He alleged that his client is being witch-hunted as part of a plan against “marked” individuals who served and held offices in the Jonathan administration “in other to implicate them by all means for phantom crimes or offences.” The counsel noted that Obua 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.
“The actions of the DSS 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 DSS 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 DSS 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.
“The general public is also invited to note that the DSS should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to Obua in their custody or subsequently as a consequence of his unlawful detention,” Obua counsel stated. Onwuegbuna further noted that Obua is a serving officer of the DSS but was ordered to report to the headquarters to meet with the Acting Director General. “He consequently reported at the headquarters at about 9a.m. on the 8th of July 2015 and he was kept waiting till late in the night by the Acting DG who finally asked him to report again the next day.
The exact situation played out the next day and the day after resulting in our client reporting to the office of the Acting DG every day from the 8th of July 2015 till the 16th of July 2015. “On the third day of reporting, our client was orally informed by the DG that there was a petition against him without telling him the contents of the alleged petition or the identity or the petitioner(s).
Our client requested to be availed a copy of the petition or its contents to enable him respond accordingly. However, his request was not granted, and he was rather told not to worry that such petitions are normal considering the office he previously occupied. “On the 16th of July 2015, he reported at the office of the DG by 5p.m. as directed, and as usual he was kept waiting till about 1a.m. on Friday 17th July 2015 when the DG informed him that he will be detained and he has been in detention since then without being informed what offence (if any) he is alleged to have committed or the reason for his detention,” he added.
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