By Tunde Olamilekan
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has accused the state Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, of unlawful arrests and detention of one of his aides, Abiodun Adegoke.
The governor said Adegoke, has been repeatedly denied bail over a defamation petition affecting the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Oyebamiji.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor decried the continuous detention of Mr Adegoke, describing it as a breach of his fundamental human rights.
He noted that the subject of the petition from the APC candidate was a non-capital offence which is bailable under the Nigerian law.
“One of my aides, Mr Adegoke has been detained for more than five days now. He has not been charged in court, and he has been refused bail on two occasions. That is a fundamental breach of the law and the Constitution.
“The Osun Police Command seem to be losing every sense of professionalism since Mr Gothan resumed as CP in Osun. Police now detain for as long as they want without granting bail or charging suspects to court, and in most cases, the abuse of rights of citizens is based on the verbal petition or instructions of opposition political leaders.
“I therefore demand unconditional and immediate release of Mr Adegoke and an end to the systematic harassment of my media aides who are functioning within the confines of the law and the constitution. Before Mr Adegoke, another one of my aides, Mr Iyiola Monsuru, was detained. Both of them were arrested without the Police extending a formal invitation to them.
“The police command should not give the impression or conduct itself in ways and manners that will mark it as serving the political interest of APC and its chieftains. The police should be impartial and non-partisan and serve the interest of all Nigerians within the confers of the law”, the governor was quoted as saying.
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