Posted by The conditions surrounding the unlawful arrest and two years of incarceration of Collins Trueman Opumie, a young activist, by DSS agents in 2016 have been made public by the Bayelsa State Police Command.
In two petitions filed by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, against the activist over an alleged attempt to attack NAOC facilities and personnel in the state, the State Command, through Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, Stanley Friday, informed a Yenagoa High Court on Monday that this led to the opening of a police investigation and his subsequent arrest by DSS operatives.
Remember from when the twiscoloaded previously reported that Opumie, a Niger Delta youth who supported the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and a native of Opuama Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, claimed in his statement of claim that the DSS had kidnapped him at the NAOC’s request.
ASP Stanley Friday stated that the efforts made by the State Police Command’s Special Investigation Bureau to look into the petition were cut short, and the claimant’s location became unknown. He made these claims while being cross-examined during the hearing in the activist’s lawsuit against NAOC and the DSS.
During cross-examination, he informed Justice Ebiyon Duke Charlie, the Presiding Judge, that the meeting scheduled for August 4, 2016, to discuss the charges made in the petition, was never convened because of his unidentified whereabouts.
For two years, police were under constant pressure to find Comrade Collins Trueman Opumie, whether he was alive or not. Up till now, we have witnessed Governor Douye Diri discussing his issue on national television and stating that he has spent the last two years in the DSS’s underground cell on the National Assembly floor,” he stated.
AGO contract holder Comrade Collins Trueman Opumie, who ASP Stanley Friday further stated to the court was the source of the alleged threat against NAOC, according to Ogalla, who acted on behalf of the Security Division of NAOC officials. Opumie may have been upset with NAOC for terminating the contract illegally.
Additionally, the DSS arrested the claimant three times in accordance with a directive from National Headquarters, according to Tare Peters, the investigation officer of the DSS who claimed to have obtained the confession of Comrade Collins Trueman Opumie to the alleged threat messages to the former Divisional Head of NAOC, Mark Rotandi.
He was taken into custody on August 2, 2016, and following questioning and a confession, he was freed upon his own volition. On August 15, 2016, he was detained once more and brought to Abuja under the NSA’s directive. A remand order was obtained on August 18, 2016, keeping him in custody for ninety days. And a Senior Magistrate Court in Abuja granted him bail on November 16, 2016, the witness stated.
However, Ebipreye Sese Esq., the claimant’s attorney, disapproved of the DSS testimony and cited passages from a Federal High Court, Abuja, ruling against the DSS that proved the activist had been wrongfully held for two years without being given a chance to defend herself.
Following the four witnesses’ cross-examination by C.S. Eze, counsel for the DSS, C.S. Efe, counsel for the Police, Innocent Ekpen, and counsel for the claimant, Ebipreye Sese, Justice Charlie ordered all parties to draft and submit written responses within 21 days.