Police, DSS arresting EndSARS protesters, Delta Judicial Panel member cries out

 

Despite the outrage trailing the arrest and detention of #EndSARS protesters across the country, the crackdown continued yesterday, as a member of Delta State Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up to investigate allegations of police brutality and extrajudicial killings in the state, Harrison Gwamnishu, raised alarm over what he described as the wanton arrest of persons who participated in the protest.

The alarm came on a day sister of one of the #EndSARS protesters, Onomene Adene, explained how she was deceived by the police who arrested her brother, Eromosele Peter Adene, who she added had a liver problem.

This is even as an Abuja-based activist, Kenechukwu Okeke, Monday filed a criminal complaint before a Chief Magistrate’s court in Abuja against 50 persons, including Sam Adeyemi, Davido, Tuface Idibia, Nwankwo Kanu and 46 others, for their alleged roles in the #EndSARS protests that took place last month

He alleged that during the riot, his properties were destroyed, adding that the defendants who promoted the #EndSARS protests must be brought to justice.

Raising the alarm in a statement yesterday, Gwamnishu, while questioning the intentions of the federal government, also accused the police and Department of State Services, DSS, as the brains behind the arrest.

Though the judicial panel member did not state if he would be withdrawing his membership of the state panel, he said: “You can’t beg citizens to sit and negotiate and at the same time freeze their accounts.”

Warning those who participated in the protest across the nation, he said: “If you were involved in #EndSARS protest, be careful of calls you receive. If anyone calls you on the phone and tells you to come and take or collect something, please don’t go. The police and DSS are out there picking #EndSARS protesters.

“Your family and friends can be used as soft targets. This means, they can get your relatives/friends’ phone numbers from your network provider and use them to fish you out. They will also get your frequently dialed numbers, track them and later use them to get you.”

But Delta State police command, yesterday, denied reports that it was arresting persons who participated in the #EndSARS protest in the state.

The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Onome Onowakpoyeya, said: “I’m not aware of it (arrest of #EndSARS protesters), maybe it’s at the national level because I don’t think it’s happening in Delta State. So, I believe that claim is not true.”