Members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly have cried to the<\/p>\n
Nigerian Bar Association and Amnesty International over the refusal of
\nthe Department of State Services (DSS) to obey the court order,
\ndirecting the immediate release of a member of the House of Assembly,
\nrepresenting Efon Constituency, Hon. Afolabi Akanni.<\/p>\n
The lawmakers, who could not control their emotions while addressing
\nthe press, said it was obvious that the DSS wanted Hon. Akanni and
\nsome other members of the House dead so that they can be replaced by
\nmembers of the All Progressives Congress (APC).<\/p>\n
Hon. Akanni, who was paraded before the press last week Thursday to
\ndebunk the rumour of his death was whisked away from the House of
\nAssembly complex on March 4, 2016, during an invasion by armed men of
\nthe DSS and had been held in DSS custody in Abuja without access to
\nhis lawyers, doctors and family members.<\/p>\n
On March 11, a Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti ordered that Hon Akanni
\nbe released immediately or be brought to the court in Ado-Ekiti on
\nWednesday, March 16, 2016, but the DSS refused service of the court
\norder when the Court Bailiff, Araromi Ademola went to the DSS office
\nin Ado-Ekiti, prompting an order that the order be served through
\nnewspaper advertisement.<\/p>\n
Despite that the order was published in the Nigerian Tribune of last
\nweek Thursday as ordered by the court, the DSS claimed that it was yet
\nto see the order.<\/p>\n
Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon Segun Adewumi, Chairmen
\nHouse Committee on Information and Health, Hon. Gboyega Aribisogan and
\nHon (Dr) Samuel Omotoso respectively were at the NBA national
\nheadquarters and the Amnesty International office in Abuja to submit
\npetitions.<\/p>\n
They also submitted copies of the court order, newspaper advertorial
\nin which the order was published among other documents.<\/p>\n
They decried the silence of human rights activists, especially Ekiti
\nState born, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), saying history will judge those
\nkeeping silent because of their political interests.<\/p>\n
The lawmakers, who addressed the press after submitting the petitions,
\nraised the alarm over the health condition of the detained lawmaker,
\nsaying; \u201cHon. Akanni said on Thursday, when he was paraded before the
\npress that he slumped twice and no medication was given to him even
\nwhen he asked for drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hon (Dr) Omotoso said; \u201cSince it is now obvious that they cannot
\ncoerce us into impeaching our governor and leader, Ayodele Fayose, it
\nappears that these people are now working on a sinister theory of
\nsnuffing life out of Hon Akanni and some of us so as to pave way for
\nthe conduct of bye-election through which they hope to rig APC members
\ninto the House of Assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have therefore come here to alert the NBA and the Amnesty
\nInternational of this blatant disregard for orders of our courts by
\nthe DSS and infringement on the fundamental rights of our members,
\nespecially Hon Akanni, who is dying in detention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are putting the entire world on alert that should anything
\nuntoward happen to Hon Akanni, who is being detained without access to
\nhis doctors despite being terribly sick and any of us, the DSS and by
\nextension, the federal government should be held responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly have cried to the Nigerian Bar Association and Amnesty International over the refusal of the Department of State Services (DSS) to obey…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n