Civic advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association Of
Nigeria, has tackled the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Army
over the arrest and detention of veteran Nollywood actor, Chiwetalu Agu.
The group described as injustice the arrest of the actor for
wearing ‘Biafran colours’, while controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi,
roams freely with bloodthirsty bandits.
Soldiers on Thursday had arrested the actor around Upper
Iweka Bridge in Onitsha for wearing an outfit with Biafra inscriptions.
The Army in a statement had said that the actor was arrested “while inciting members of the public and soliciting for support for the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra,” adding that the actor was “dressed in a very well-known attire of the proscribed group”.
In a viral video, Agu had denied the allegations, saying his
attire was a civil dress with an image of a rising sun and not Biafra.
The military later released the actor on Friday and handed
him over the DSS.
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DSS Spokesman, Peter Afunanya, who confirmed that Agu is in
the custody of the secret police, said the law would take its full course.
However, reacting its statement titled, Chiwetalu Agu:
HURIWA accuses military, DSS of ethnic profiling’, the group said, “The
military and the DSS have clearly shown their inclinations towards ethnic
profiling because on more than one occasion the Kaduna-based Islamic cleric
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi was seen holding nocturnal meetings with the terrorists who
kidnapped many school children and held them hostage for months in the forests
but despite the obvious evidence that the said Ahmad Gumi made many television
and newspaper appearances and granted extensive interviews including the one
that he accused the military of helping to weaponise terrorists in the North-West,
there was never any attempt on the part of the DSS or Army to invite him or
arrest him for these treasonous acts of fraternizing and colluding with
terrorists.
“But the Igbo Actor Chiwetalu Agu wore just a cloth with the
flag of the defunct Biafra Republic which is not unlawful but the Army tortured
him and thereafter handed him over to the DSS and the DSS is now saying that
justice would be done and we ask, which justice? This is pure ethnic profiling
and vendetta which is unconstitutional.”
The statement signed by HURIWA National Coordinator,
Emmanuel Onwubiko, added, “We demand the immediate release of Mr Chinwetalu Agu
by the DSS or they charge him to court so the world will see how low the
country Nigeria has degenerated in the practice of apartheid policies by the
current administration that releases and reintegrate Boko Haram Islamic
terrorists.”
Of late, Gumi has been seen with AK-47-wielding bandits in
the forests of Niger, Zamfara and Kaduna states, defending their killings and
kidnappings and asking the government to grant them blanket amnesty.
While many Nigerians had called on the security agencies to
arrest and interrogate Gumi over his involvement with the rampaging marauders,
the Kaduna-based Islamic cleric walk freely, serving as middleman and resource
person for the bandits in the negotiation for the release of abducted students
across Nigeria.
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