Group seeks probe of alleged torture in police ‘abattoir’

Emeka Ungwuonye

A non-governmental organization, Due Process Advocates International, DPA has for the umpteenth time called for the urgent intervention of the National Assembly in form of investigating the activities of the Police in the ‘Abattoir’ detention centre.

This, according to the group, in a letter of appeal to the federal legislature, would further expose the alleged human rights abuse by the Police in the detention centre with a view to finding last solution to the plight of detainees by the security agents.

The letter, dated November 14 and signed by Mr. Kelvin Asekome, claimed that no fewer than 200 detainees in the centre were suddenly released and evacuated to Kuje Prisons in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT as a result of the alarm raised by what was going on in the centre.

It recalled that the founder of DPA, Barrister Emeka Ugwuonye had been in detention for over a year in Kuje Prison for allegedly fighting for human rights in Nigeria.

DPA is an international human rights and humanitarian organisation registered by Ugwuonye under the law of the State of Maryland, United States of America and Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The letter reads, in part: “While evacuating accused from the Abattoir (detention centre) was a welcome development, the evacuation was done in a manner that tends to conceal the truth about the atrocities that occurred in the Abattoir, and to make it easy for the atrocities to continue.

“Therefore, we see these recent development as a further reason for the urgency in the response of the Senate and House of Representatives.

“Help the ordinary citizens of this country to end crimes against humanity being committed against Nigerians by the Police, starting with a public hearing and investigations that will reveal the full scale of gross human rights abuses that occurred at the Abattoir.”