Ekiti House to sue DSS over detained member

•Alleges drugging of legislator •Akanni’s rights suit continues today

The Ekiti State House of Assembly yesterday said it had instructed its counsel to seek redress and damages over what it called “the undemocratic, unpatriotic, dictatorial and brutish” incarceration of one of its members, Afolabi Akanni, by the Department of State Services (DSS) for 18 days without trial.

The Assembly alleged that the detainee, who was reportedly released on Tuesday evening, was dumped in an Abuja private hospital and appeared drugged, just as it disclosed that three of its members were still missing.

The chairman, House Committee on Information, Youths and Sports, Chief Olugboyega Aribisogan, who gave the hint in Ado Ekiti, condemned “the illegal arrest, detention and dehumanization of Akanni,” demanding an unreserved apology.

He claimed the secrete police never contacted any stakeholder to intimate them of the release of Akanni, adding that members of the House read the news, like every other Nigerians, online on Tuesday night.

“Up till this moment, we have not been told officially by the DSS whether or not Honourable Akanni was formally released from incarceration after spending 18 days without access to his doctors, lawyers and family members,” he told a news conference.

Earlier, the Speaker, Pastor Kola Oluwawole, contended that it was wrong for anyone to have accused Governor Ayo Fayose of lying when he raised the alarm that the detained legislator had died in DSS detention last week.

He maintained that the information at the disposal of government, as confirmed by Akanni when eventually shown on television, indicated that he had been so sick to the extent that he allegedly collapsed twice on a single day.

“For anyone who saw such a person slump and probably was not revived before the privilege of information was terminated, would it be wrong to say such a victim had died? The answer is no! Akanni did slump but lived, the outcome could have been otherwise,” he stated.

Meanwhile, hearing continues today in the suit filed by Akanni’s counsel to enforce his fundamental human rights at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo had ordered the DSS to release him or produce him in court.