Search
  1. Home
  2. West Africa
  3. Nigeria

OPC leader released

    ABIDJAN

    Nigeria's State Security Service released on Thursday the leader of a militant Yoruba group campaigning for greater autonomy in the country, a news source told IRIN.

    Frederick Fasehun, the leader of the Oodua Peoples Congress, was arrested on Wednesday by members of the State Security Service, news reports said.

    At a political function in the city today, Fasehun said he was detained in Lagos for six hours and questioned about his group's activities. Fasehun represents the moderate wing of the OPC.

    "Security agents questioned him on the illegal circulation of guns in Lagos," the news source told IRIN.

    His detention was the latest in a number of arrests of leaders demanding constitutional changes that would allow for greater autonomy of the country's regions.

    The executive director of Human Rights Monitor, an NGO in the northern city of Kaduna, Festus Okoye, told IRIN on Thursday that the arrests were prompted by government's nervousness "about the new openness we have in Nigeria". This nervousness, he said, most likely resulted from the recent
    religious riots in the country, which government blamed on antidemocratic forces.

    "The government sees the OPC through the same periscope as those who called for Sharia and want to bring the government down," Okoye said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join