BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE & LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU

ABUJA —  THE   House of Representatives, yesterday, directed its committees on Police Affairs and Human Rights to probe the arrest of 320 persons alleged to be members of the Boko Haram sect by Rivers State Police Command, last Sunday.

This was sequel to a motion brought to the floor of the  House by Deputy Minority Leader, Suleiman Kawu (APC, Kano).
The House  gave the two committees one week within which to thoroughly investigate the matter and get back to the House with appropriate recommendations.

The Rivers Police Command had, on Sunday, said its men had arrested 320 persons suspected to be members of Boko Haram.
The suspects were arrested at about 5a.m.,  Sunday, in a convoy of 17 buses between the border of Imo and Rivers states.

Kawu in his motion punctured the Police report, saying, “the arrested persons were in Rivers for legitimate business as most of them were petty traders and menial job seekers in search of means of livelihood in their fatherland.

”Such manner of arrests and injustice portends obvious danger capable of breeding political instability to the already overheated polity as the suspects were known to be law abiding citizens whose nature of business is well-known.”

He explained that the arrests once again brought to the fore “several issues that require immediate attention of every well-meaning Nigerian for the security, economy and political well-being of the country and its citizens.”
He cited Section 41 of the Nigeria Constitution which guaranteed that every Nigerian was entitled to move freely throughout the country.

Kawu said this was not the first time the said suspects were in Rivers, stating that they had been there on several occasions.
He said if no urgent step was taken to address the issue, such arrests “may as well lead to breakdown of law and order, posing threat to the very existence of the country as a whole.”