Dakunji Concerned Citizens Forum of Turu, Vwang District, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State has threatened to drag the Military Task Force mandated to keep peace on the Plateau, Operation Safe Haven, OPSH, to court for invading the village and forcefully arresting the former Transitional Committee Secretary of the Local Government, Hon. Davou Nyango for no just reason.


Chairman of the forum,  Pam Lowang while addressing Journalists in Jos on Friday, said that on the 13th September 2021, the Officers and men of the Nigerian Military under the Operation Safe Haven in Jos at the wee hours illegally invaded the residence of Nyango and forcefully apprehended and detained him without knowledge of the crime he was alleged to have committed.


The community accused the task force who invaded Dakunji village and operated for three hours at the house of Hon. Nyango forcefully whisked him away to an unknown destination after shooting sporadically on the air without informing the constituted authority in the community of his whereabouts.


According to the chairman, the armed Military men numbered about 15-30 invaded the community without notifying the community on why the reason for the invasion; adding that even the sector commander of the sector on inquiry denied ever having knowledge of such invasion and unlawful arrest in his jurisdiction.


The chairman said that after the forceful arrest, the military officers detained Nyango for 9 days without bail being granted.


Lowang said that Hon. Nyango had his right eye wounded in the process of being beaten while in custody.  "The most annoying aspect was that the military refused to charge or arraigned Nyango to court for over eight days while in their custody" he added.


However, the chairman of the forum said ”constitutionally, the fundamental rights of Hon. Nyango has been grossly infringed upon and we immediately asked the Chief of Defense Staff and the Chief of Army Staff to direct the GOC and Commander Operation, Safe Haven, to thoroughly investigate this gross abuse of rules of engagement for their overzealousness, and accordingly compensate the community and the victim.


The community also demanded that the military should repair the house of Hon. Nyango which was destroyed during the invasion and payment of compensation for the trauma inflicted on his person as well as settlement of his medical bills.


While reacting, the spokesman of Operation Safe Haven Major Ishaku Takwa confirmed the incident to our reporter, saying that Hon. Nyango was picked up following a suspect that was arrested by the military who, during interrogation mentioned the name of the victim (Hon.Nyango) which prompted his immediate arrest.


Major Takwa added that after interrogating Hon. Nyango, ”was immediately released, health and hearty without any molestation by the military, describing those allegations levelled against the military as mischievous”.