The senator representing Benue South Senatorial District, Abba Moro, has called for the immediate release of a widower, Bernard Ogbu, who is being detained by the police in Abuja for over three years without trial.
Ogbu’s sister, Comfort, had told The PUNCH that operatives of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad in the Federal Capital Territory, led by ASP Felix Onoja, stormed Bernard’s residence in the New Nyanya area of Nasarawa State on March 3, 2019 and arrested him.
She added that the family was allowed to see Ogbu once since he was arrested, adding that efforts to make the police admit his brother to bail or charge him to court had been abortive.
Comfort also said Ogbu’s wife was depressed by the incident and died as a result, leaving behind four young children.
In a statement on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Print and Electronics, Ameh Godwin, the senator condemned the continued detention of the suspect, describing the action of the police as unprofessional.
The statement read in part, “The senator strongly condemns the unprofessional conduct of the police for refusing to charge the suspect to court within 48 hours as stipulated in our law.
“He called on the police authority to immediately produce Ogbu alive with public apologies and adequate compensation to assuage him of the torture, inhumane and degrading treatment he is being subjected to in the hands of the SARS operatives since 2019 till date.
“Under Nigerian laws, no amount of suspicion is strong enough to earn a human being indefinite incarceration without trial in a competent court of law.
“He called on the police authority to expedite action and resolve what is now an obvious misuse of state power on the part of the police institution and provide answers to the questions being asked by the family.
“The whole world is watching to see whether the Nigeria Police Force has indeed yielded to the popular demand for an end to police brutality.”
