APC alleges DSS tortured data centre staff to lie

The All Progressives Congress has accused the DSS of resorting to the use of torture to obtain forced confessions from the workers who were arrested during the first raid on the party’s Data Centre in Ikeja, calling it a contravention of the UN Convention against Torture to which Nigeria is a signatory and a violation of the citizens’

fundamental human rights.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said for the avoidance of doubt, it is necessary to quote a relevant section of the UN Convention to put the DSS on notice that it may be treading on dangerous ground, as it continues in its efforts to intimidate, harass
and weaken the opposition to give the PDP an undue advantage ahead of next year’s polls.

It quoted Part 1 Article 1 of the UN Convention as saying in part: ”For the purpose of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a
third person information or a confession……”
APC said the DSS personnel who arrested the workers shackled their hands and legs and blindfolded them while they were being taken to
Abuja.

 APC also said a pregnant woman among those who were arrested was denied access to her drugs even when she started bleeding due to the
torture to which she was subjected by the DSS.

 “Our democracy is in clear and present danger, not just from desperate politicians, but also from institutions of state that have compromised in their roles and resorted to crass lawlessness,” APC said.