A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has ordered the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya to produce the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Security matters to the Enugu State Governor, Tochukwu Cornelius Okeke before the court.
Okeke was arrested by the army for allegedly associating with the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Also ordered by the court for same reason is the General Officer Commanding (G.O.C) 82 Mechanized division, Enugu, Maj. Gen. Taoreek Lagbaja.
Justice A. T. Mohammed of the Port Harcourt division of the court made the order upon a motion exparte filed and moved by Chinedum Agwaramgbo on behalf of the applicant.
The respondents are equally ordered to appear and show cause why the applicant should not be granted bail or unconditional release from custody.
Justice Mohammed has however directed the applicant to serve all the processes relating to the case on the respondents.
According to the supporting affidavit attached to the motion, Okeke was arrested by officers of the Nigerian Army for allegedly belonging to IPOB and it’s Eastern Security Network(ESN).
Mr. Anih Stanley Nkem who deposed to the affidavit stated that he made frantic efforts to secure the release of Okeke but was not successful as the army insisted that they were yet to conclude their investigations and would not release him yet.
Nkem told the court that the last time he set his eyes on him was on July 22, 2021 and he was looking disheveled, disoriented, emanciated and sickly.
That presently, the applicant is having difficulty in recognizing persons he knows and is complaining of lack of good food, water and that the respondents have refused him access to his personal physician.
