The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) has condemned the arrest and detention of Eko John Nicholas by the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) on Monday May 1 at MKO Abiola Stadium Abeokuta during the May Day celebration.
Eko, who is the Ogun State Coordinator of CDWR and a leading member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), was arrested when he was selling the newspaper of the DSM and distributing the CDWR leaflet which calls for a new national minimum wage and an end to anti-people policies.
According to statement from the National Publicity of the CDWR, Chinedu Bosah, after Eko was arrested, he was said to have been allegedly physically assaulted by a masked operative despite having not put up any resistance.
He was reportedly taken away from the stadium to the DSS facility in Oke Mosan Abeokuta where his biodata, fingerprint and vital information such as his bank account were collected.
Eko was also alleged to have been detained and held incommunicado for seven hours before he was released by 6 pm. His family members and comrades were said not to have been aware of the arrest until after he had been released.
The statement said "One of the DSS operatives, who disclosed that he knew Eko very well, accused him, during interrogation, of being a busybody who was out at May Day rally to cause problem by inciting workers and embarrass the state governor. The paper of the DSM which Eko was selling has two articles on the plights and conditions of workers in Ogun state including the criminal non-remittance of deduction from salaries to cooperatives and pensions as well as the unjust sack of workers at some higher institutions in the state.
"It is clear that the action of the DSS is meant to put Eko on a security watch list including an intrusion into his privacy and the restriction of his movement because of his activism in the defense of the rights and interests of workers and the downtrodden in Ogun State.
"We call on trade unions, civil society organizations and human rights activists to openly condemn the arrest of Eko which is a brazen attack on democratic rights and demand an end to such an undemocratic act. Stifling of democratic space and suppression of fundamental rights must not be allowed to thrive without resistance".
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