A coalition of civil society groups on Tuesday called for the immediate release of Nnamdi Emeh, the whistle-blower currently detained by the Nigerian saying he could be at risk of ill-treatment or extrajudicial execution if he is not released or charged to court.
Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity in a statement obtained by the NOHR said the Nigerian police must release Emeh Nnamdi or immediately charge him to court if he is found to have committed any crime.
26-year-old Mr. Emeh Nnamdi, a serving member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and an IT consultant to the Anambra state police command has been in detention in Abuja since 3 March 2023 after he was arrested in Benin Republic for revealing shocking details about police extortion, torture, extrajudicial executions, and organ harvesting by senior police officers in Anambra state.
The group said Mr. Emeh was transferred to the Anambra state police command last Sunday where he is currently facing further interrogation by senior police officers “ some of whom he had indicted for seizing posh vehicles recovered from criminal suspects who were later executed in police custody… a practice that offends the principle of natural justice, which espouses that one should not be a judge in one’s own case”.mm
Background
On 16 February 2023, Gistlover an anonymous whistle-blowing website revealed the shocking details about how senior police officers in Zone 13 and Anambra state command were involved in extortion, extrajudicial execution, enforced disappearance, and organ harvesting of detainees in their custody. The story was corroborated by video evidence of former detainees who were forced to confess to serious crimes and were shortly made to disappear. Some families of the victims have since corroborated the story.
Shortly after the revelation, Nigerian Police authorities announced that it will launch a full-scale investigation into the allegations, but instead of taking the accused police officers into custody, it declared Emeh Nnamdi, who works with the accused police team, wanted for sundry offenses. It is believed that he must have passed the vital information to Gistlover blog.
Some of the human rights organisations who signed the statement on behalf of the coalition include: Access To Justice, Avocats Sans Frontières France / Lawyers Without Border , Sterling Law Centre, RULAAC, Civil Liberties Organisation, I-REF, and AFRIKMIL.
