The umbrella body of Ijaw leaders and elders, the Ijaw National Congress (INC), has condemned the arrest, ‘kangaroo’ arraignment and detention of a prominent Ijaw son and member representing Degema-Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr Farah Dagogo, on the orders of Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike.
The condemnation is contained in a statement on Saturday by the INC President, Prof. Benjamin Okaba.
The INC said that the continued detention of Dagogo without conviction in a court of law was a clear violation of his fundamental human rights.
The statement said the illegal arrest and detention of Dagogo, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was an orchestrated design by the Wike administration to persecute the Ijaws who were resolved to come together to contest the governorship of Rivers State.
The INC said: “May we ask: when did the constitutionally guaranteed right to contest an election become a crime?
As a former Minister of State in the President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal administration, did the then Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who had become an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, threatened or ever arrested and illegally detained Governor Wike even though they were at loggerheads?
“When did Rivers State become the private empire of Governor Wike that indigenes need permission from him to decide their individual political future? The INC is particularly miffed at the trumped up charges against Hon. Farah Dagogo that he hired cultists to disrupt the PDP screening exercise, which was presided over by his governor-colleague, Senator Douye Diri of Bayelsa State.
We have it on good authority that Dagogo’s health has deteriorated as a result of his ordeal in the hands of Wike. He is said to be suffering from chest and stomach complications. Let Governor Wike realise that the Ijaw nation is watching. Nothing should happen to Dagogo.”
The INC, therefore, demanded the immediate release of Dagogo from incarceration within 48 hours, rationalising that as a lawyer, Wike knew that his trumped up charges against Dagogo were bailable.
The group added: “If Governor Wike thinks he has legitimate charges to convict him, he should allow the due process of the law to take its legitimate course.
“Release Hon. Farah Dagogo in the interest of peace, justice and fairness to enable him pursue his political ambition which he is constitutionally entitled.”