According to Sowore, the state governor, Yahaya Bello, his deputy, Edward Onoja and the Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, are shopping for judges to frame the protesters and deny them bail.
Human Rights Activist, Omoyele Sowore, has revealed plans by the Kogi State Government to frame the two protesters detained by the police in the state for allegedly working with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to burn a police station.
According to Sowore, the state governor, Yahaya Bello, his deputy, Edward Onoja and the Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, are shopping for judges to frame the protesters and deny them bail.
In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Sowore said the two men, arrested and dehumanised by the police, have now been transferred to the State Central Intelligence Department where they have been denied access to lawyers.
He wrote: “UPDATE: We’ve asked a lawyer to visit our comrades dehumanised by Gov. Yahaya Bello’s thugs, detained by @PoliceNG commissioner, Ede Ayuba, they're both being framed and accused of working with #IPOB to bomb police stations.
“Kogi state government operatives including Deputy Gov. Edward’s Onoja and @KingsleyFanwo are reported shopping for judges to frame them and deny them bail. Meanwhile, they’ve been transferred to the @PoliceNG CID where they are being tortured and denied access to lawyers.”
Violent youths had on Sunday descended on two middle-aged protesters who were pasting Buhari-Must-Go posters in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
SaharaReporters learnt that the irate mob flogged the two youths, filmed them and brutalised them before they were later handed over to the police.[story_link align="left"]92437[/story_link]
It was gathered that the police thereafter quizzed the two protesters and detained them when they insisted on seeing their lawyer before making a statement.
In some viral videos, the protesters were seen being molested and questioned by the mob before they were flogged as the youths forced them to clean their painting of “Buhari Must Go.”
A source said: “Last night, these patriots were arrested by policemen attached to Governor Yahaya Bello in Lokoja, Kogi State. They were taken to the state police command and detained. However, this morning, the Commissioner of Police handed over to Bello’s thugs for torture and humiliation.
“I spoke to the Commissioner this morning and he told me he was with them, only to hand them over to thugs to be tortured and humiliated all over Lokoja."
Speaking with SaharaReporters, the commissioner of police, Ayuba Edeh, claimed the protesters were still with the police.
The police commissioner said, “It was vigilantes in town who arrested them and brought them to the command. They were in my office and I asked them what the matter was. They said they came from other states to protest in Lokoja. I asked them to write it down in a statement but they said they would not talk until their lawyer comes.
“So, I asked the policemen to let their lawyer come. We did not release them to the hoodlums. They are still with the police.”
Meanwhile, the state government had earlier in a statement signed by Fanwo supported the attack on the youths, saying they were from Benue state.
The statement read: “The Kogi State Government wishes to commend the gallant and ever vigilant youths of the state for rising to the occasion to crush the ungodly campaign by some imported and sponsored youths who came to the State to campaign against President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The sponsored youths congregated at Benue State from where they moved to Kogi State and began to paint walls as well as display anti-Buhari posters that were printed in a South-South state."