The Nigerian Navy has declined comment on the continued detention of 15 Nigerian citizens for seven months without trial.
The detainees including Dada Labinjo, a Navy captain, and Sherifat Ibe Lambert (also known as Mrs Bola Labinjo), a lt. commander, have been in detention since September 2018 for an undisclosed offence.
The navy has neither released them nor charged them to court since they were arrested.
While it has refused to obey the order of a magistrate’s court that Lambert should be released, the security agency is also said to have denied the detainees access to their lawyers and family members.
When Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, raised an alarm over the detentions on Sunday, TheCable contacted Suleman Dahun, Nigerian Navy spokesman, for comments but he promised to get back to the reporter.
Two days after, on Tuesday, TheCable reached out to Dahun again, to speak on the matter but he also declined to comment, promising to get back to the reporter.
“I will get back to you,” he simply said.
He is yet to do so as at the time when this report was filed, while text messages sent to him remain unreplied.
Falana had called on Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation, to charge the naval personnel responsible for the violations of the fundamental rights of the detainees with contempt of court and acts of torture under the Criminal Code Act and the Anti Torture Act.Nigerians hail release of lady detained
in Saudi for alleged drug trafficking
Nigerians have taken to the social media to laud the Federal Government following the release of the lady who was detained in Saudi Arabia for alleged drug trafficking, Zainab Aliyu.
Her detention had stirred an outrage among Nigerians on social media who demanded that the federal government intervene and secure her release.
The pressure for her release became intense since the Asian country was known to operate a very strict form of Islamic law where death sentences are handed for crimes such as drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery.
President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Attorney General of the Federation to take necessary action on her detention.
Following her release, some Nigerians took to Twitter to commend the swift response of the government in securing her freedom and request the same urgency in securing that of Leah Sharibu, who is still in Boko Haram custody.
Another segment of social media users called for appropriate measures to be taken to ensure those responsible for her detention be dealt with.
“When I hear that the federal government is involved in a case like that of Zainab, I find myself really praying that they take it seriously like it was a matter of life and death. Thank God Zainab was taken seriously,” a Twitter user said.
“I celebrate the @MBuhari government for securing Zainab Aliyu’s release in record-breaking time. President Buhari is to be commended. Now, I urge the President to apply the same sense of urgency that he showed for Zainab towards Leah Sharibu and make #FreeLeahSharibu a reality, ” another user said.
Another social media commentator @Lydiaeffiong2, wrote, “When I hear that the federal government is involved in a case like that of Zainab, I find myself really praying that they take it seriously like it was a matter of life and death.
Thank God Zainab wasaken seriously.@renoomokri #ZainabIsInnocent
For Hassan Temitope (@hatdapoet), he said, “A lot of innocent Nigerians die every single day in detention abroad just bcos of expired visas or minor cases not even drug related offense, go to Malaysia, China or India you will weep. The FG should be proactive for other innocent ones too the same way they were with Zainab.”
