ARREST OF EZE IGBO OF AJAO: DISCRIMINATORY AND A SLAP ON THE FACE OF THE RULE OF LAW, BY CHIEF MALCOLM EMOKINIOVO OMIRHOBO

During the just concluded Nigerian elections the Igbos in Lagos State were threatened, intimidated, harassed, embarrassed, coerced and disenfranchised by their Yoruba host while the Nigerian state, the Department of State Services (DSS), police and military boots on ground looked the other way.

First was an audio tape of the Baale of Gbaara in Eti-Osa threatening Igbos who say they will not vote APC in the coming election. In Aguda there was a video of a thug threatening Igbos in a polling booth to vote for APC or go home . A woman suspected to be an Igbo woman was stabbed in the face in Surulere .

The Oro rite was performed throughout Lagos during the elections to threaten the Igbos not to vote by many Obas and Baales . The MC Oluomo video threatening the Igbos not come out to vote if they are not voting for APC was taken as a joke by the police.

During the Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly election the Igbos were attacked and prevented from voting by Yoruba thugs and miscreants throughout Lagos state. To crown it all were the xenophobic and inflammatory statements made by Femi Fani-Kayode and Bayo Onanuga made against the Igbos.

In all these incidents and many more the DSS and police did not invite, arrest, interrogate or prosecute any of these persons in the face of overwhelming evidence.

After the elections the face-off between the Yorubas and Igbos continued as Igbos are being attacked by some Yoruba constantly and their property destroyed without any consequences.

The failure of the DSS and police to protect the life and property of Igbos in Lagos State led Fredrick Nwajagu, the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos, to on Friday, 31/3/2023 via a video that went viral announce his intention to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos to secure the life and property of the Igbos .

Barely 24 hours after Nwajagu video was released, with speed of lightening at about 1:00 am on Saturday 1/4/2023 a combined team of police and DSS raided and arrested Nwajagu, the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate and took him into the custody of DSS for just for making a joke like MC Oluomo.

The DSS and the police should be ashamed of themselves for failing to prevent the ongoing face-off between the Yorubas and Igbos in Lagos State that is now taking a xenophobic turn.

From the foregoing, I dare say that the arrest of Nwajagu is discriminatory and a slap on the face of the rule of law. The DSS and the police cannot pick and choose who to arrest for breaking the law because all Nigerians are equal before the law – and no Nigerian is above the law.

Why will the DSS and police refuse to arrest Yorubas that break the law but are quick to raid and arrest an Igbo for committing a similar offence like his Yoruba compatriots? This act of the DSS and the police is unhealthy to our corporate existence as a country. Or are they saying the Yorubas are superior to the Igbos? For the records, all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria are equal before the eyes of the law.

The DSS and police must take Nwajagu video as a joke and release him forthwith.

To join our Telegram platform, please click here 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on TWITTER at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag. To ADVERTISE in CITY LAWYER, please email citylawyermag@gmail.com or call 08138380083.

All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.