Although the three Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) members who were arrested and detained at the Iyaganku Police Station, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Sunday, where they had gone to deliver a suspected kidnap kingpin, Iskilu Wakilu, were released Tuesday, Abuja lawyer and notable human rights activist, Dr. Kayode Ajulo, has demanded justice for the troika.
The OPC 3, as he described them, are: Adedigba Awodele, Hassan Ramoni and Dauda Kazeem.
Demanding that the three men needed not suffer for their peaceful and patriotic action in the first place, Dr. Ajulo, who is the Mayegun Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, described their arrest and detention as illegal and a travesty of justice. And he demanded that the injustice be redressed without delay.
“Their arrest, to say the least, was an unfortunate development,” Ajulo declared, adding that it was ordered “by the Nigerian Police on the order of the power that be.
“The arrest of the OPC men by the police is fittingly and unwittingly sending wrong signals to the populace.”
The fearless lawyer declared that the activities of Iskilu Wakilu, the suspected kidnap kingpin, were so rife in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State, that the police ought to “have done something about it.”
But he said that for so long, nothing happened.
“It was, therefore, regrettable that the police would now turn against the OPC operatives who made their job very easy by turning in the alleged kidnap kingpin,” Ajulo said.
Still, the human rights activist was not done. He maintained that by the peace and orderly manner which the OPC 3 effected the arrest of Iskilu Wakilu, recording every action on video, and showing same to the whole world via social media, “the police ought to have recognized the fact that the arrested men were not acting on their own.
“They were not acting in isolation but as members of an age-long sectional group saddled with the responsibility of defending the integrity of Yorubaland. And as a matter of exigency, they are backed by all sons and daughters of Yorubaland to ensure that the raging insecurity being witnessed in the South West doesn’t degenerate further.”
Ajulo then asked: “Is it not better that Wakilu was apprehended and handed over to the police peacefully rather than being manhandled?”
The lawyer even backed the action of the OPC 3, as he called them, with relevant potions of the country’s statutes, saying the criminal code permits law-abiding Nigerians to, indeed, apprehend suspected criminals and hand them over to the police.
His words: “Taking recourse to law, our body of criminal law permits Citizen Arrest. An Ordinary Person Can Arrest A Criminal Suspect Even Without A Warrant In Nigeria. See Section 12 of Criminal Procedure Act, Section 28(d) of Criminal Procedure Code and the Supreme Court Judgment in the case of Nweke V. The State (1965) 1 ALL NLR 114.
“Like any other law enforcement agents/officers, an ordinary person can arrest any person reasonably suspected of having committed a felony (a crime punishable with 3 years imprisonment or more). In such circumstances, you don’t need a police officer to arrest such a suspect, and if in arresting such a person, you threaten or assault such person, you will not be liable. After an arrest, you are to handover such person to a police officer or nearest police station.”
Ajulo showered profuse praises on the Yoruba nation for its unwavering commitment to the rule of law, equality, equity and justice.
He recoursed to history to underscore the resolute commitment of Yoruba leaders to freedom and justice.
“Yoruba have been in the vanguard of justice, equality and equity in Nigeria,’ he said, “and will not shy away from demanding for justice irrespective of the persons, tribes and nations involved.
“From the time immemorial, the Yorubas have been known to promote all that is good and noble being the front runner of freedom and justice, at the inception of Nigeria statehood. For instance, the late Sadauna of Sokoto and Premier of the defunct Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Sir. Ahmadu Bello, was defended in and outside the court by Chief Bode Thomas, a bona vide Yoruba from Oyo. He fought relentlessly to seek justice to the Fulani prince.
“The late Chief G.O.K Ajayi, SAN, and other Yoruba and progressive patriots, fought for justice for Alhaji Abdulrahman Shugaba, a Kanuri from the North Eastern region when he was unlawfully deported to the Republic of Chad.
“From Zango-Kataf, to Jalingo, Bauchi, from the East to the West, North to South, Yoruba patriots have always been up and doing in defending people’s rights and freedom irrespective of their tribe and ethnicity.
“The above is necessary to remind ourselves that irrespective of anyone’s tribe, Yorubas will not shy away from defending people’s rights once it’s perceived that such rights are being trampled upon.”
