From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), yesterday, said 75 Obigbo residents, comprising 55 women and 20 men, arrested between October and November last year have been released and reunited with their families.
Board Chairman for Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, who made the disclosure in a statement in Onitsha said the 75 abductees were ferried to Abuja and detained in several army formations before being freed on March 4 and 5, having been granted bail by the Grade 11 Magistrates Court, Wuse 11, FCT Judicial Division, Abuja.
He said the abduction of the Obigbo residents was done amidst grave inhuman conditions and without court trial. He said till date, the Army and immediate past Chief of Army Staff, DSS and police have refused to speak on their roles in the abductions.
He said the freed 75 abductees were abducted at night and moved from 6 Division/Obinze Army Barracks to Mogadishu Barracks in Abuja late into the night.
He said among the abductees were 55 women, mostly between 18 and 25 years of age.
He said all personal belongings of the abductees, including women’s hand bags and their contents, cash sums, mobile phones, identity cards were taken away by the soldiers and not returned till date. He said each of the 55 women was forced to wear in captivity the same underwear worn at the point of abduction for over four months.
“There are also hospital staff and a day-care proprietress, among those in 27 and 39 years age bracket. Twenty men are also of productive age bracket, including traders, trade apprentices, panel beaters, secondary school leavers, university admission seekers. “
The group described the freed Obigbo residents 10 days journey from Abuja to the South East as tortuous noting that some of them fainted and became traumatised.