Members of the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) have begun a manhunt for the those involved in the torture and brutalisation of two women accused of stealing pepper in Ejigbo, Lagos State.
The manhunt was instituted on Tuesday after the founder of the group, Dr Frederick Fasehun, ordered members of the congress to hunt for the culprits and turn them over to law enforcement agents.
In a statement released same day, Fasehun said urged members of the public to discountenance insinuations that members of the OPC had a hand in the incident. “The treatment meted out to them violently contradicts everything OPC stands for,” he said. “OPC is an organisation specifically dedicated to promoting the corporate interest of the Yoruba nationality and upholding the dignity of the Yoruba man or woman.
“Authentic members of OPC could be easily recognised through identity cards bearing their personal signatures, and issued by the group’s national headquarters.”
According to him, the police can testify that OPC vigilante operatives never resort to extra-judicial treatment, torture or killing of apprehended offenders irrespective of the nature of the offence. Fasehun said that an average OPC member had been trained and had sworn to hold as sacrosanct, human rights.
He urged relevant authorities to bring the criminals and their godfathers to book.
“This will serve the purpose of justice as well as act as a deterrent to others,” he said
Fasehun also commended the Lagos State House of Assembly and the Majority Leader, Mojibayo Adeyeye, for placing N1 million and N250,000 bounties respectively on the culprits.
The Lagos House of Assembly, after a public hearing on the matter on January 8, promised a reward of N1 million for information that would lead to arrest of the culprits.
According to him, the move by the assembly and the majority leader cleared Nigerians of corporate guilt in human rights violation.
A NGO, Women Arise, had on December 23, 2013, staged a protest to the assembly to create awareness on the abuse and brutalisation of the women sometime in February, 2013.
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