The Delta State Police Command has reportedly arrested an activist, identified as Ighorhiohwunu Aghogho, on Monday.
The wife of the activist, Mrs. Oghogho Ighorhiohwunu, who cried out over the whereabouts of her husband, said the police, who came to her shop, had wanted to arrest her at first, but immediately pushed her away and pounced on her husband – the activist, upon his arrival, and subsequently drove him to an unknown location.
She noted that her husband had been at loggerheads with the police in the state. The PUNCH had also reported, on May 4, that the activist had protested the lack of police vehicles for an investigation involving child trafficking in the state.
Speaking to The PUNCH, she said, “A policewoman called me to ask about the phone I was using to ask if I was the owner. She later came to my shop and said the phone is a stolen phone that I’m under arrest, and that I should follow her to the station.
“I asked which station, and she just said I should enter the car. They started beating me. When the news got to my husband, he came around and they pushed me away and immediately pounced on my husband.
“He was taken to Ovwian police station, Udu Local Government Area of the state.
“I followed them to the station and they later transferred him to another place, but I don’t know where they took him.
“When I insisted on following them, they pushed me away, dragged me on the floor. Till now, I have been calling them and my husband, but nobody is picking,” Mrs. Ighorhiohwunu told The PUNCH.
When contacted, Monday night, the Police Public Relations Officer of the state, Mr. Bright Edafe, said he had no details of the arrest, and said he would find out and report back to our correspondent, which he did not.
When contracted again on Tuesday morning, he insisted with a strong tone that he had no information about the activist’s arrest.
Meanwhile, a human rights group, the Take It Back Movement, of which Ighorhiohwunu is its Delta State Coordinator, had in a Twitter post, linked the arrest of the activist to his struggle against child trafficking in the state.
“Delta State @PoliceNG arrests activist, Aghogho for challenging the police over cases of child trafficking. Very unfortunate that the police under @MBuhari is only efficient when attacking activists, and totally timid against terrorists and bandits,” the group tweeted on Monday.
Copyright PUNCH.
