An Igbo group, the Igbo National Council has demanded an immediate release of the leader of the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) Igboayaka Igboayaka.
The council in a statement issued on Wednesday urged the governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru to order Igboayaka’s immediate release from police custody.
Recall that there had been reports that Igboayaka had been kidnapped by some unknown gunmen in Owerri, Imo State’s capital city.
However, shortly after the report, the Police Command in Ebonyi State announced that Igboayaka was in their custody.
Joshua Ukandu, the spokesperson for the Ebonyi State Police Command said the Ohanaeze youth leader was arrested, over a petition submitted to the Commissioner of Police in the state.
According to Ukandu, the petitioner (whose identity has been withheld by the Police) accused the youth leader of spreading false information with the aim to truncate the peace in Ebonyi State.
However, Chilos Godsend, INC president described the arrest of Igboayaka as a political attack that could worsen the insecurity in the Southeast region.
Godsend said, “Speculation has it that the illegal abduction of the OYC President by the Ebonyi State Police Command was on the instruction of the executive governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru, whose candidate in the election lost to Comrade Igboayaka.
“The abduction of Comrade Igboayaka in Owerri by a team of police from a neighbouring state without due process calls for the review of the security architecture in the South-East region of Nigeria,” he stated.
He called on the people of Ebonyi state to condemn the action of the governor and the police against the youths from the Southeast.
