The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has decried the alleged gangster-style abduction of Mr. Faruk Ozigi Onimisi, who was said to have recently resigned and defected from the APC to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and is being illegally detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (State CID) of the Nigerian Police Force in Kogi State.
A statement signed by the NDC’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary /Spokesperson, Mr. Abdulmumin Ohiare Abdulsalam on April 7, 2026 said, the politcal activist, who the repressive government in Kogi State ordered his arrest ostensibly for planning a civic protest, is being held in the most inhumane conditions in addition to being subjected to daily torture routines while in solitary confinement.
Find below a full text of the press statement:
It has gotten to our attention that one Faruk Ozigi Onimisi who recently resigned and defected from the APC to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) is being illegally detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (State CID) of the Nigerian Police Force. He was allegedly whisked away in a kidnapping style from his home in Kubwa, a suburb of the FCT to Kogi State capital, Lokoja by men of the Nigerian Police Force who were acting on the orders of the Kogi State Government.
Worse still, we are inundated with information that the politcal activist, whom the repressive government in Kogi State ordered his arrest ostentibly for planning a civic protest, is being held in the most inhumane conditions in addition to being subjected to daily torture routines while in solitary confinement.
Impeccable information available to his family, friends and politcal associates showed that he has been taken to Kogi State Police Command and is currently being detained for days now without access to legal representation, family or being charged to court, a situation which is in clear violation of his fundamental human rights.
We hereby demand Mr Ozigi’s immediate release by the authorities or, in the worst case scenario, he should be charged to court without further delay if the authorities or the Kogi State government deem him to have committed any offense(s) or breached the law on any legal scale.
Ostentibly, the innocent political activist was clamped into illegal detention for planning a ‘protest’ against the state government, a familiar smokescreen which the intolerant state actors had used in previous represive clampdowns and enforced disappearances of dissents. Hence, we call on the State government to respect and recognize citizens’ right to peaceful assembly and/or association in accordance with the Nigerian constitution as well as the provisions of the UN and African Union Charters respectively.
As a political party with peaceful intention and law-abiding followers, we hereby call on the Kogi State Police Command to halt the ugly and undemocratic indulgence of harassing, intimidating, and arresting opposition politicians who do not subscribe or belong to the political fold of the ruling APC in the state.
Finally, we wish to categorically state that continued harassment and illegal arrests of our members across the state, especially in Kogi Central, shall compel our party’s national legal team to take stronger action, including dragging the State Government and the Security agencies to courts to seek reparations and justice against the bellicose oppression and repression of the ruling party in kogi state.
We also warn the Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo-led State government to put a stop to the illegal actions by its sinister agents, else we will be compelled to drag it to the
International Community for sanctions, including penalties by the ECOWAS Court and the International Criminal Court (ICC), respectively.
The NDC wish to call on all party faithfuls in Kogi State to continue to remain peaceful, law-abiding and fearless whilst the party’s NEC and NWC figures a befitting action against further acts of repression against the opposition and politcal dissents in Kogi State and beyond.
Signed:
Hon. Abdulmumin Ohiare Abdulsalam
Deputy National Publicity Secretary /Spokesperson if the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC),
Headquarters, Abuja.
