A civil society group under the aegis of Women Arise for Change Initiative, yesterday protested alleged illegal detention of a nursing mother and her nine-month-old son by the Zone 11 of the Nigeria Police Force.
The protest, led by the President of Women Arise and the winner of the American Government’s Award of International Woman of Courage, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, had over 200 women and men protesters, who defied the sun, participating, to express their displeasure over the alleged illegal detention of Mrs. Rofiat Oladepo and her son, a nine-month-old, who were arrested and kept in custody of the Nigeria Police at the Zone 11 headquarters in Osogbo, Osun State, in lieu of her husband.
The organisation described the action of the police as a violation of the victims’ universally-recognised human rights and the law of the land.
Speaking while being received by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the zone, AIG Leye Oyebade and his management team, Dr. Okei-Odumakin said: “We are pained and disappointed that the police held in custody a nursing mother and her baby, in lieu of her husband. Not only were they arrested and detained by proxy, they were also detained beyond the constitutionally-sanctioned period. It is most nauseating to learn that Mrs. Oladepo and her baby, who were arrested on April 24 at Dural Toaheed, Oke Anu area of Ede, Osun State and taken to Zone 11, Gbogan Road, Oshogbo, were kept in inhuman conditions, only to be released later and given N500 as their transport fare back to Ede.”
She told AIG Oyebade that since their release from the police custody, Mrs. Oladepo and her baby had been hospitalised.
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