Metro
4 months after arrest, DSS arraigns Biafra Zionist leader Benjamin Onwuka
The Leader of the Biafra Zionists Federation (BZF) Barr. Benjamin Onwuka who was arrested in August has today been arraigned and remanded in prison custody.
Confirming his remand, the deputy leader of the group, Mazi Ambrose Ugwu told journalists in Enugu on Thursday that Onwuka appeared before the Federal High court in Owerri after his arraignment by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Recall that Onwuka was arrested in August after an encounter with security operatives and has been kept in custody ever since.
Read Also: IPOB kicks as police arrest alleged Jew worshipping members
Mazi explains, “I can confirm to you that our leader has finally been arraigned in court by the DSS. “After keeping him away from us and other members of the public for over three months, they arraigned him at the Federal High Court, Owerri.
“The trial judge remanded him in prison on the premise that he may jump bail.”
He decried the arrest and remand of Onwuka, calling for his release by the government.
“He should be immediately released unconditionally because they have done more damage to his rights already by keeping him incommunicado for over three months.
“The DSS has no right to have kept him for such long a time without charging him to court. Now, that he has been arraigned, the claim of his jumping bail should not even arise at all.
“We call on Muhammadu Buhari’s government to free our leader immediately without any condition attached,” the group demanded.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...