By Mark Lenu
The Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD) has raised alarm over illegal detention facilities used by some vigilante groups in Rivers State to detain, torture, and collect money before bailing suspects.
The Chairman of DHRD, Clifford Christopher Solomon who revealed this in a statement made available to our correspondent also urged the state police command and the Department of State Services to launch a surveillance operation that will nip the illicit practice in the bud.
He said, “The Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD) has uncovered, as several reports reaching us revealed that vigilante groups under different names in some local government areas including Port Harcourt are operating detention facilities; where they torture, handcuff, chain, detain their suspects and collect bail money without handing over such suspects to the police.
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“The vigilantes even dabble in all kinds of matters including matters between husband and wife, land disputes and many of the vigilantes are now debt recovery agents.
“It seems, they are not properly supervised by the Divisional Police Officers who are by law supposed to supervise the activities of vigilante groups.
“The law empowers citizens including vigilantes to arrest crime suspects when a crime is ongoing and should immediately hand over the suspect to the police or other relevant security agency.
“But of late, we have heard reports of vigilante groups even in Port Harcourt detaining suspects for days, collecting bail money without handing them over to the police.
“DHRD, urges the Rivers State Commissioner of Police and the Department of State Security Services to begin discreet surveillance on the offices of these vigilante groups in Port Harcourt and other local government areas of the state to see things for themselves and ensure that the vigilante groups that are engaging in these acts are severely dealt with in accordance with the law.
“We specifically call on the Rivers State commissioner of police who recently arrested three female police officers for extortion to spread his vigilance with a view to apprehend the vigilante groups that are engaging in illegal detention, collecting monies for bail as some of their victims are afraid to speak up.
“We equally call on the victims of such illegal detention to report such act to higher police authority if they do not feel comfortable reporting to the Division in charge of the jurisdiction of the vigilante.
“Victims can also report to human rights groups for proper handling of the matter.
“In as much as we acknowledge the roles played by the vigilantes working under the supervision of the police to combat crime,we warn that vigilante groups must not see themselves to be ‘Above The Law.’
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