They have tried every legal means they know of to secure his release but officials of the IRT have been frustrating all their efforts.
A businessman is currently languishing in detention in Lagos since 2019 when he was arrested by some personnel of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team.
Henry Ogbonna, a 46-year-old man from Abia State but resident in Bayelsa, was visiting Onitsha, Anambra State, in mid-2019 when suddenly he was accosted and arrested by the IRT officials led by the now-disgraced commander of the police unit, Abba Kyari.
The unit is notorious for human rights violations among other atrocities.
Kyari is facing eight counts bordering on drug trafficking offences alongside four other senior police officers after being arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in February.
He is also facing extradition to the United States for being involved in cyber fraud with socialite Ramon Abass, widely known as Hushpuppi.
When IRT officers under Kyari arrested Ogbonna, he was immediately moved to IRT Ikeja Annex in Lagos that same day without being told what his offence was.
After getting a hint of the development, family members of the businessman quickly arranged a lawyer to follow up on the matter and secure his release from custody.
But upon getting to the IRT office in Ikeja, family members and a lawyer they hired were prevented from seeing Ogbonna with the police personnel at the place claiming that he was never brought to the place.
Despite visiting the facility on several occasions since 2019 and being reliably informed by various sources that he was being held at the place, the 46-year-old businessman’s family members have been blocked from having access to him. They have also not been told the offence he allegedly committed.
Speaking with SaharaReporters about the issue on Monday, a younger brother of the illegally detained man, Chinwendu Okeugo, disclosed that the family has spent close to N1 million in trying to secure the release of Ogbonna since his arrest. There has been no luck.
According to him, they have tried every legal means they know of to secure his release but officials of the IRT have been frustrating all their efforts by claiming that the businessman is not in their custody.
“We have hired several lawyers and spent a lot of money to secure his release but the IRT officers are making life difficult for us.
“Each time we have visited their office in Ikeja, they have denied that our brother is in their custody when several sources have told us that he is in that place.
“This is great injustice. How can somebody be arrested since 2019 and kept in detention without being told what his offence is?
“They have denied him access to his family and even a lawyer since that period for no just cause.
“Our brother is a law-abiding citizen, who ran his business diligently without committing any offence; we don’t understand why he is being punished unnecessarily for breaking no law.
“We are crying out to the world to prevail on the police to release my brother to go home. He has suffered a lot in detention, his family is suffering as a result of the situation, he should be released immediately for the sake of justice and fairness,” Okeugo said.
The IRT under Kyari as commander committed several atrocities against scores of ordinary Nigerians, who were arbitrarily arrested and left to rot in detention without necessarily committing any offences.
Following public outcry over the violation of citizens’ rights by personnel of IRT and Special Tactical Squad, the then-Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, in July 2020 directed the disbandment of the satellite offices and bases of both units, leaving their headquarters under the State Investigation Bureau to continue operation.
But despite the move by the police authorities, officers attached to the IRT have continued to violate the fundamental rights of many Nigerians with many losing their lives before ever finding justice.