Nwajiagu has been in detention at the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba of the state, after threatening to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), from the South-East to help secure the lives and properties of Igbos living in Lagos.
A legal team which attempted to secure the bail and release of the detained Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate in Lagos State, Frederick Nwajiagu, failed on Tuesday as he remained in police detention.
Nwajiagu has been in detention at the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba of the state, after threatening to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), from the South-East to help secure the lives and properties of Igbos living in Lagos.
SaharaReporters last Saturday reported that a joint team of policemen and operatives of the Department of State Services arrested the Igbo leader.
“A team of police and DSS went to his palace but he had already fled. He was later traced to a hotel in Ejigbo where he was arrested,” the source had said.
Vanguard reports that on Tuesday, a group of Igbo leaders from Lagos and other parts of the South East region went to the SCIID, Panti to solicit his bail and release but they did not succeed as they were told that investigation into the case was still going on.
Another team of lawyers reportedly went to the police department but were told to give detectives time to carry out thorough investigations into the case.
One of the lawyers who preferred hidden identity said, “We were there in numbers and we made it clear to the police that our client had spent more than 72 hours in detention and should be granted administrative bail. But, they insisted that we should allow them to complete their investigations.
“We are still wondering whether a mere threat to invite a protective group to help aggrieved people when authorities concerned, including security agencies, woefully failed to do their duties, is such a heinous crime that will make an innocent man be so unjustly incarcerated.
“We also proceeded to police headquarters in Ikeja from Panti to seek an audience with the Commissioner of Police, but we could not see him. He was said to be in a crucial meeting but one of his aides promised to discuss it with his boss.”
The lawyer further said that if all efforts failed, they would have no option but to go to court to seek to enforce his fundamental rights.
SaharaReporters had on Friday reported that Nwajagu, in a 49-second video shared on Twitter by @DeeOneAyekooto said that the move was necessary due to attacks on Igbo people in the state.
The Igbo leader had stated that he stood by his words and that his people must take a stand in Lagos State by shutting down their economic activities to protest the alleged intimidation they had been facing from other non-Igbo residents of the state.