The Bayelsa State Police Command has provided details about the circumstances surrounding the unlawful arrest and two-year detention of youth activist Collins Trueman Opumie by the Department of State Security (DSS) in 2016.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Stanley Friday, representing the State Command, informed a High Court in Yenagoa on Monday that two petitions filed by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) against the activist led to a police investigation. The investigation resulted in Opumie’s subsequent arrest by DSS operatives over alleged attempts to attack NAOC facilities and personnel in the state.
Opumie, an indigene of Opuama Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and a participant in the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), had accused the DSS of abducting him at the behest of NAOC.
During cross-examination, ASP Stanley Friday stated that the attempts by the Special Investigation Bureau of the State Police Command to investigate the petition were interrupted, and Opumie’s whereabouts became unknown. He mentioned that a scheduled meeting between the State Commissioner of Police, NAOC representatives, and Opumie on August 4, 2016, never took place as Opumie remained untraceable.
The police official revealed, “Police were under pressure for two years searching for Comrade Collins Trueman Opumie, dead or alive. Until, we saw Gov. Douye Diri on national television raising his matter on the floor of the National Assembly affirming that he has been in the underground cell of the DSS for two years.”
ASP Stanley Friday also informed the court that officials of NAOC’s Security Division, through Anthony Ogalla, suggested that Opumie might be responsible for the purported threat against NAOC, as he had a contract of AGO with them and might be upset over the alleged illegal termination of the contract.
Furthermore, the DSS investigation officer, Tare Peters, claimed to have obtained a confession from Comrade Collins Trueman Opumie regarding the purported threat messages to the former Divisional Head of NAOC, Mark Rotandi. Peters stated that the DSS arrested Opumie three times based on directives from the National Headquarters.
“He was arrested on the 2nd of August, 2016 and after interrogation and confessional statement, he was released on self-recognition. Following the order from the NSA, he was again arrested on the 15th of August, 2016 and taken to Abuja. On 18th August 2016, a remand order was secured to keep him for 90 days. And on the 16th of November, 2016, a Senior Magistrate Court in Abuja granted him bail,” the witness said.
The claimant’s counsel, Ebipreye Sese Esq, however, disagreed with the DSS witness and pointed to some paragraphs in a judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the DSS confirming that the activist was unlawfully detained for two years without trial.
Justice Charlie, after hearing the cross-examination of the four witnesses by counsel to the DSS, C.S.Eze, counsel to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, Innocent Ekpen, counsel to the Police, C.S Efe, and counsel to the claimant, Ebipreye Sese, directed all parties to prepare and submit written addresses in 21 days.