According to News Express, leading rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of bringing back the infamous Decree 2 through the back door. The group made the allegation while reacting to the detention, without trial, of Gordon Obua, former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to former President Goodluck Jonathan, whom reports claimed has died in the hands of the country’s secret police.
Intersociety in a statement signed by the Board Chairman Emeka Umeagbalasi and issued this afternoon in Onitsha also pre-empted the State Security Service (SSS) – also known as Department of State Service (DSS) – on likely damage control if indeed Mr. Obua is dead.
According to Intersociety, “The breaking of news this morning by the Trent Online News of the death in custody of Senior Agent Gordon Obua, former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to former President Goodluck Jonathan, is saddening and shocking if true. Agent Gordon Obua, a senior operative of the SSS and former CSO (or Chief Detail) of the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, was said to have died yesterday in the underground dudgeon of the Department of the State Security Services.
“He had been in detention since his presidential arrest on Thursday, 16th July 2015. He appears to have been detained under presidential order without disclosure of reasons for his arrest and detention in a manner reminiscent of indiscriminate and long detention of Nigerians by Buhari’s military regime, using Decree No.2 of 1984 (State detention of persons without trial military Decree). The Decree was enacted and recklessly applied by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (as he then was) to hound independent voices and political opponents into detention and jails without trial and disclosure of reasons warranting their arrests and detention or offenses allegedly committed. (News Express)