Human rights activist, Prince Wiro, has criticized the torture and degradation of a football coach, Mr. Daso Ogan, by OSPAC vigilantes in Igwuruta in the Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State, and has called for justice to be served to the victim.
Wiro, a National Coordinator of the Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, called on security operatives to release Mr. Ogan from their custody in the Igwuruta Police Division and also demanded that they arrest and charge before court all members of the vigilante group said to have attacked him.
The football coach, whose origin is from the Okrika local government area, was said to have been arrested by members of the OSPAC group and accused of using witchcraft to make another man lose his manhood.
Read Also: Stakeholders Seek Safeguards Against AI Election Manipulation
According to reports, the football coach, who is one of the natives of Okrika Local Government Area, was reportedly arrested by some OSPAC members who claimed he had used magic to make another man lose his manhood. The football coach was reportedly beaten and then paraded in public until he was arrested by policemen.
The rights activist condemned the act, saying it amounts to the denial of the victim’s basic rights and extrajudicial punishment. According to him, the allegations that there is a supernatural disappearance of human organs have no scientific, legal, or medical foundation whatsoever.
Information gathered by him from some members of the victim’s family and some other people who led the community where he hails from indicates that he was seriously injured in the process of beatings and lost some parts of his head before he could be rescued by police officers.
WIRO emphasized that the situation demanded accountability, where those behind the accusations and subsequent torture were to be held accountable by the relevant authorities.
On their part, the family of the accused rejected the accusations and referred to the acts of the vigilante group as illegal and unjustifiable. The family alleged that the accused Ogan was subjected to beating after being accused without any proof of his guilt.
Further, the family raised concern about his continued detention because the individual has not been found to be guilty of committing any crime. The family appealed to the authorities for the liberation of Ogan from detention and bringing his tormenters to justice.
It was revealed by the Rivers State Police Command that an ongoing investigation into the case had been carried out.
