Gideon Dominics, the relative of a suspected member of the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Eastern Security Network, Elvis Okafor, has called on the police to release him, saying he is being framed up.

According to Dominics, the 23-year-old was arrested on Sunday, August 1, 2021, at the Afo Okporo Market in the Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State, branded an IPOB member and paraded at the police command headquarters.

UGAMATV  learnt that the victim left his house to buy foodstuffs in the market before he was allegedly beaten up and arrested alongside two other persons.

Dominics had raised the alarm after searching for his cousin to no avail and later saw his photograph on Facebook while being paraded alongside 15 others with different locally-made guns.

Dominics, in a post on Facebook, said, “This is my little cousin, Elvis Okafor; have you seen how dramatic Nigeria is? A little boy that went to buy foodstuffs for his sick mum is now a member of IPOB?

“A boy that came back from church and hasn’t eaten anything is now brandishing a gun as an ESN member? You see the Nigerian magic? Is this how innocent people are being framed daily?

“My kid brother has been arrested in Orlu by the Nigeria Police Force. And yet, we have no glimpse of his whereabouts till now; a boy that went to buy foodstuffs for his sick mom yesterday (August 1).”

Speaking in a telephone interview  on Sunday, Dominics said he could vouch for the young school leaver that he had nothing to do with IPOB or ESN.

He expressed surprise that while the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mike Abattam, maintained that Okafor was not in the command’s custody, he (Abattam) posted a photograph of a group of persons, including his cousin, paraded with guns on Facebook.

He said, “I asked the police PRO if Elvis (Okafor) was brought there. But he said no person like that was with them. Elvis is about 23 years old. He is a very quiet person.

“I later went home and opened the PPRO’s Facebook page. It was then I noticed that he posted the picture of my brother, describing him and others as IPOB/ESN operatives that the police arrested. I was angry and called him several times on the phone until he responded.

“I told him that my brother was innocent and should not be paraded. I asked him that if Elvis was his son and he (Elvis) was paraded, how would he feel? I told him to have conscience, but he cut the call on me.

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“The boy’s mother is seriously ill. She is mentally challenged. It happened after the death of her husband. The most important thing for me now is to get her son out of the police cell.”

The police spokesman, Abattam, while reacting to the allegation, said people should allow the police to do their investigation.

“Investigation will vindicate the innocent. The state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, is committed to justice,” he said.