Civic advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria, has tackled the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Army over the arrest and detention of veteran Nollywood actor, Chiwetalu Agu.
The group described as injustice the arrest of the actor for wearing ‘Biafran colours’, while controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, roams freely with bloodthirsty bandits.
Soldiers on Thursday had arrested the actor around Upper Iweka Bridge in Onitsha for wearing an outfit with Biafra inscriptions.
The Army in a statement had said that the actor was arrested “while inciting members of the public and soliciting for support for the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra,” adding that the actor was “dressed in a very well-known attire of the proscribed group”.
In a viral video, Agu had denied the allegations, saying his attire was a civil dress with an image of a rising sun and not Biafra.
The military later released the actor on Friday and handed him over the DSS.
DSS Spokesman, Peter Afunanya, who confirmed that Agu is in the custody of the secret police, said the law would take its full course.
However, reacting its statement titled, Chiwetalu Agu: HURIWA accuses military, DSS of ethnic profiling’, the group said, “The military and the DSS have clearly shown their inclinations towards ethnic profiling because on more than one occasion the Kaduna-based Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi was seen holding nocturnal meetings with the terrorists who kidnapped many school children and held them hostage for months in the forests but despite the obvious evidence that the said Ahmad Gumi made many television and newspaper appearances and granted extensive interviews including the one that he accused the military of helping to weaponise terrorists in the North-West, there was never any attempt on the part of the DSS or Army to invite him or arrest him for these treasonous acts of fraternizing and colluding with terrorists.
Source: PUNCH
