The Bayelsa Police Command has shed light on the circumstances that led to the ‘illegal’ arrest and two-year detention of a youth activist, Comrade Collins Opumie, by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in 2016.
The Police Command through Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr. Stanley Friday, told the Bayelsa High Court sitting in Yenagoa the two petitions filed by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) against Opumie on alleged attempts to attack Agip facilities and personnel in the state led to the opening of police investigations and later arrest by the DSS operatives.
ASP Stanley, who was cross-examined at yesterday’s hearing into the suit No. YHC/324/2022 filed against the NAOC and the DSS over illegal arrest of Opumie and his detention for two years without trial, said the attempts by the Special Investigation Bureau of the Police Command to investigate the petition filed by NAOC was truncated and the whereabouts of the claimant became a mystery.
He told the Presiding Judge, Justice Ebiyon Charlie, during a cross-examination that the meeting fixed by the Commissioner of Police and representatives of NAOC for August 4, 2016 over the allegations raised in the petition never held as his whereabouts remained unknown.
He said the police were later placed under immense pressure to produce him as the Command was his last destination.
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He said: “Police were under pressure for two years searching for Comrade Collins Opumie, dead or alive until we saw now Governor Douye Diri on a national television raising his matter on the floor of the National Assembly affirming that Opumie had been in the underground cell of the DSS for two years.”
Stanley also told the court that the officials of the security division of NAOC through one Anthony Ogalla had told the police that the purported threat issued against NAOC was suspected to be issued by Opumie whom they had contract of AGO (diesel) with and might be angry against NAOC for illegal termination of the contract.
Also, the Investigation Officer of the DSS, Tare Peters, who claimed to have reported the confession of Opumie to the purported threat messages to the former Divisional Head of NAOC, Mark Rotandi, said the DSS arrested the claimant three times based on directive from the national headquarters.
The DSS witness, Tare Peters, also said despite that facts of his investigation might not be disclosed in court due to their classified nature, “Opumie was arrested only three times.
“He was arrested on the 2nd of August, 2016 and after interrogation and confessional statement, he was released on self-recognition. Following the order from the NSA, he was again arrested on the 15th of August, 2016 and taken to Abuja. On 18th August, 2016, a remand order was secured to keep him for 90 days. And on the 16th of November, 2016, a senior magistrates’ court in Abuja granted him bail.”
The claimant’s counsel, Ebipreye Sese, however, disagreed with the DSS witness and pointed out some paragraphs in a judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja against the DSS confirming that Opumie was unlawfully detained for two years without trial.
The claimant’s counsel, Sese, also demanded that the DSS witness produce the purported confessional statement of the claimant to the alleged threat against NAOC and its officials but it could not be produced.
The DSS official also defended their position on why they did not bother to invite officials of NAOC who made the allegation of threat against its oil facilities as part of the investigation, claiming he had a confessional statement from the claimant and that inviting NAOC officials was discretional.
“Upon receipt of intelligence, we saw the threat messages of the claimant on his mobile phone and there was no need to check further and invite the Agip. We got the intelligence and the man had confessed,” the DSS officer claimed.
However, the DSS witness could not produce the confessional statement of the claimant and the phone allegedly used in sending the threat text messages to Agip in court during a cross examination by the claimant’s lawyer, Sese.
Also, the Divisional Manager, Partnership and Business Support of the NAOC, Barrister Dennis Mazi and a member of the Security Department of NAOC, Anthony Ogalla were called as separate witnesses in court.
Mazi, who was the then Security Manager of Agip admitted under cross-examination that the firm was a nominal complainant in the first information report filed against the claimant by the DSS in a senior magistrates’ court in Abuja.
He also claimed that the picture and particulars of the alleged sender of the threat messages were not known to him as the pictures were blurred and he could not identify Opumie.
But the security personnel of the NAOC, Anthony Ogalla contradicted his boss and said the pictures and particular of Opumie were procured from the electronic mail and it was very clear.
He also agreed that the NAOC submitted the petitions against Opumie to the Police.
Justice Ebiyon Charlie after hearing the cross-examination of the four witnesses by legal counsel for the DSS, C.S.Eze Esq, counsel for the NAOC, Innocent Ekpen, counsel for the Police, C.S. Efe and counsel for the claimant, Sese, directed all parties to prepare and submit written addresses within 21 days.
He adjourned the case until April 12, 2024.