#EndSARS: 15 protesters still detained in Lagos prisons three years after

According to Amnesty International, three years after the 2020 #EndSARS rally, fifteen protestors who were detained arbitrarily are still being held.

The international organization noted on Friday, in a statement posted on its website, that most of the demonstrators are being held without being given a chance to face charges in Lagos’s Kirikiri Medium Correctional Center and Ikoyi Medium Security Correctional Center.

The group further claimed that numerous demonstrators had been falsely accused of stealing, arson, possessing illegal firearms, and murder by the government.

“Our investigation shows the Nigerian authorities’ utter disdain for human rights. Three years in detention without trial is a travesty of justice. This shows the authorities’ contempt for due process of law. The protesters must be immediately and unconditionally released,” the director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, stated

Seven #EndSARS protestors were named as having been arbitrarily detained at Kirikiri Medium Correctional Center: Daniel Joy-Igbo, Sodiq Adigun, Sunday Okoro, Olumide Fatai, Oluwole Isa, Shehu Anas, and Akiniran Oyetakin.

Eight other protestors, namely Segun Adeniyi, Onuorah Odih, Jeremiah Lucky, Gideon Ikwujomah, Irinyemi Olorunwanbe, Quadri Azeez, Olamide Lekan, and Sadiq Riliwan, are presently being held without being granted a trial at the Ikoyi Medium Security Correctional Centre in Lagos, as per the organization’s report, starting in 2020.

Amnesty International was informed by one of the detained, Daniel Joy-Igbo, a Beninois who was arrested in Lagos in October 2020, that he had been held at the Bar Beach Police Station, the State Criminal Investigation Department in Panti, and a SARS facility in Ikeja.

“Since my arraignment in December 2020, I have been locked up in the prison without trial. Since then, there has been no adjourned date for my case. I have not been taken to court since December 2020,” he said

Sodiq Adigun, who was formerly held in the State Criminal Investigation Department in Panti, was also taken into custody in October 2020. He stated, “Let the government release me. I have been detained since 2020 without trial. I am innocent. My life has been shattered. I need my liberty.”