By Egufe Yafugborhi

WARRI—A CIVIL society group, Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged,  Centrep, has called for the retirement of Mr. Joseph Mbu, Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Zone 7, Abuja, for allegedly ordering the arrest and detention of Mr. Amaechi Anakwue, a journalist with the African Independent Television, AIT, for reportedly describing Mbu as controversial in a recent press interview.

National Coordinator of Centrep, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, in a statement in Warri, Delta State, said that the Police boss’s action was not only a violation of Mr. Anakwue’s fundamental rights to freedom of expression and the press as guaranteed under Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) “but same further corroborates Amnesty International’s recent damning human rights report on the Nigeria Police.”

Ikimi’s called for the “immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Anakwue from Police custody with compensation and a public apology by the Nigeria Police in accordance with Section 35(6) of the 1999 Constitution.”