This may not be the best of time for the family of
Selky Torughedi, the alleged member of the Niger Delta Avengers who was
arrested six months ago and is still languishing in the dungeon of the DSS.
The
prospect of his walk to freedom at the end of his ordeal in sound and good
health may be a mirage if urgent attention is not paid to the prevailing
environmental condition of the place he is holed up.
This
is the alarm being raised as a matter of urgent attention by the counsel to the
detained ex-militant, Emeka Ucheghulam in a fresh Save Our Soul letter to the United Nations on the plight, suffering
and inhuman treatment being meted to Selky Torughedi by the Nigerian Secret
Police aka DSS.
Emeka
Uchegbulam is screaming at the top of his voice and to whoever cares to listen
that Selky Torughedi is locked up in an underground cell that houses almost 35
inmates without a window or any other form of ventilation except an air conditioner
that works for 24 hours subject to availability of power.
To
worsen the situation, Uchegbulam says two of the inmates cough incessantly
throughout the day and even at night. He added that one of them according to
information was undergoing treatment for tuberculosis before he was arrested
some months ago and thrown into the common cell where a majority of the inmates
including Selky live.
Sir,
in a single cell measuring about 16 feet by 16 feet with such large number of
people cramped into that space, among them tuberculosis sufferers, there is no
gain saying that it is a danger of epidemic dimension waiting to happen.”
Selki
is already malnourished and weak, no thanks to his long incarceration without
an end in sight. We are not oblivious of
the fact that a man who is underfed, his movement restrained and is denied good
oxygen at regular intervals is like a sitting duck to any opportunistic
infection. It becomes more worrisome when such environment is co-habited with
people with manifested history of infectious ailment such as tuberculosis. This
is the situation and condition Selki is immersed in today .
To
be forewarned is to be forearmed. Selki is very vulnerable and he may contract
the disease.
Sir,
Nigeria is a signatory to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
Ratifications and Enforcement Act 1981.
Article
5 of the charter states inter alia…Every individual shall have the right to the
respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his
legal status. All forms of exploitations and degradation of man particularly
slavery, torture, cruel, inhuman degrading punishment and treatment shall be
prohibited.
From
all indication, the actions of the Nigerian secret police against Selky
Torughedi is an infringement of the charter and a repudiation of the agreement
entered into by the Nigerian government.
Selky
Torughedi’s problem with the DSS started on 17th of June 2016, at
about 1 am when more than ten heavily armed men in black uniform with hood drawn
over their faces broke into his house and dragged him, from his bed, beat him
up, handcuffed him in the presence of his wife and very young children and
bundled him unto a waiting vehicle and took him away.
After this fragrant dehumanization and abuse
of Selky’s rights, the D.S.S. went further to lie to the entire nation that
they have succeeded in arresting one of the members of Niger Delta avengers and
a close associate of Tompolo.
However,
days after his arrest, the Niger Delta Avenges came in unequivocal terms and
denied the said allegation that Selky is their member. Even Tompolo also denied
being a close associate of Mr. Selky Kile Torughedi.
From
the day of his arrest, Selky Kile Torughedi has been in chains in D.S.S. cell
up till this moment.
Piqued
by the continuous breach of our client’s rights, under part 1, chapter 1 of the
African Chatter on Human and People’s Rights, we filed a suit at the Abuja
Federal High Court for the Enforcement of Mr. Selky’s Fundamental Human Rights.
First amongst all our demands was his release from D.S.S. detention. It will
interest you to note that all parties including the D.S.S. were represented in
and by their various counsels. Matters were argued and the court gave Judgment
in Selky’s favor. (The judgment of the court is hereby attached.)
The
judge affirmed that the explanation given by the D.S.S. that Selky was a threat
to the Society were wide and very speculative, noting that the Justification
offered for the continuous incarceration of our client were bereft of any shred
of evidence to back them up.
In
the absence of such concrete evidence, the judge ordered that Selky Torughedi
be released unconditionally.
He
further stated that any incarceration that is not backed by order of a
competent court is illegal, unconstitutional and must be shot down by the
court, being the guardian of those sacred rights secured by the constitution.
The
D.S.S. never appealed the judgment of the court. They never charged Kille to
court upon any form of criminal allegation, neither have they released Mr.
Selky Torughedi, six months after the court Judgment. Our client is still bound
in chains in the cold dungeon of the D.S.S. with his health deteriorating every
passing minute. Instead the D.S.S. invaded the residence of the Judge without a
warrant like they did to selky and took away his bag containing ruling’s he was
meant to deliver against the DSS,Who do you cry to in a situation like this in
a country supposedly governed by the rule of law? Which superior organ of
government do you report such naked abuse of human rights?
Undeterred
by the frustrating act of impunity of the DSS, we decided to seek the
intervention of the National Human Rights Commission to save Selky Torughedi
from the persecution of the DSS.
In
a letter dated 14th October, 2016 from the chambers of Emeka
Uchegbulam and Co, we explained the ordeal of Selky Torughedi, detailing the
genesis and tortuous process we have gone through to make DSS to charge our
client to court if indeed there are evidence of all allegations they made
against him or obey the court order issued by the constitutional body charged
with the responsibility of arbitration in such a matter. See attached document.
Again,
over two months after the save our soul letter was written to the National
Human Rights Commission, all we got was an acknowledgement letter and no other
action while Selky continues to waste away in the DSS dungeon.
Just
last week, Emeka Uchegbulam took the case of Selky to the Amnesty International
for intervention.
Emeka
insists that the DSS is convinced that
it has no evidence against Selky, but it is holding on to him with a view to
making him to implicate some highly placed people in the Niger Delta who they
believe are the unseen hands behind the Niger Delta Avengers.
But
Selky has continued to maintain that he cannot cooperate with DSS to implicate
innocent people stressing that it is a sin against man and God to do so.
Therefore, because of his refusal to do the sinister will of the DSS, they are
determined to continue to detain him even at the risk to his life, they care
less.
As
at the last visit to Selky in the DSS prison, he was a pitiable sight to
behold. He has emaciated badly and he was virtually a walking corpse.
Sir,
we are of the belief that the DSS is determined to kill Selky Torughedi, we are
convinced beyond all reasonable doubts. Our conviction is anchored on the fact
that he is chained twenty four hours and seven days in a week even inside cell.
He is undeterred without proper medical attention and he is interrogated almost
every day with a threat to hold him until he implicates somebody.
Sir,
we are writing this letter to your good offices to intervene in this blatant
human rights abuse by the Nigerian Secret Police before our client dies in DSS
detention.
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