Police Detain #EndSARS Protester, Moyinoluwa, for 30 days without Trial

The Ekiti State Police Command has detained a #EndSARS protester, Moyinoluwa Olowoyo, for 30 days without trial for taking part in demonstrations in the state, his family has said.

The 26-year-old student of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, was arrested on October 20, 2020, by the Department of State Services in Ado Ekiti before being handed over to the State Criminal Investigation Department.

Two days after his arrest, the student was transported to the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja for about a week for unknown reasons and then taken back to Ado Ekiti where he has remained ever since.

Moyinoluwa’s younger brother, Olayemi, told The PUNCH that his brother was never involved in any violent protest as all his protest videos on social media clearly show him warning people against violence.

Olayemi said his brother may have been singled out because he is a former member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

He said his family was asked to write an apology letter to the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led state government before he would be released.

Olayemi stated, “My brother never attacked anyone. In fact, his videos on Twitter show him calling on people not to attack anybody. But he was arrested on October 20, 2020. He works at Fajuyi Market where he sells phones and he is also a student at the Federal Polytechnic Ado Ekiti. He is 26 years old. I was told that he was arrested at Fajuyi Park. He was arrested by the DSS and then handed over to SCID. They said we should return on October 22 but when we returned, we were told that he had been taken to Abuja.

“An activist in Abuja, Henry Shield, intervened and police said they would not release him until they get orders from above. They took him back to Ekiti State on October 28.

“One of the activists handling the matter said the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General in the state asked that a letter of apology must be written before he is released and I was against this but my father agreed to do so because of my mother’s health condition.”

A bail application by a lawyer, Nkereuwem Akpan, addressed to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Intelligence Bureau, dated November 3, 2020, stated that Moyinoluwa had not been charged with any crime and yet the police had refused to release him.

Speaking with our correspondent, activist, Henry Shield, said Ekiti Senator, Abiodun Olujimi, also tried to intervene but it seemed the police were bent on detaining Moyinoluwa for reasons best known to them.

Shield said the police had no genuine reason for taking Moyinoluwa to Abuja in the first place and accused the Federal Government of running a police state.

He said, “We got the senator involved and she confirmed to us that they were demanding an apology. I understand that the guy’s father wrote the apology but the police have still refused to release him. There is no court order for his detention.

“In fact, there was no reason for his transfer to Abuja. It was actually hoodlums that arrested him and handed him over to the DSS before police took over. That is to show you how lawless Nigeria is.”

But the spokesman for the governor, Yinka Oyebode, denied that the state government had a hand in Moyinoluwa’s arrest

Oyebode said the matter was purely a police matter, adding that inquiries should be directed at the Police Public Relations Officer.

However, the police spokesman, Sunday Abutu, neither responded to repeated calls nor a text message on Saturday.