The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria on Tuesday took to the streets to protest against the continued detention of its 26 members by operatives of the Department of State Services.
While calling for the immediate release of their members whom they said were “illegally” arrested and held, the association said the arrest and detention of the 26 operators came after they were invited for questioning by the DSS from their bases in Kano, Yola, Sokoto, Minna and Lagos, two weeks ago.
Several calls, text and WhatsApp messages to a spokesperson for the DSS, Peter Afunanya, for response, were not replied.
The counsel for ABCON and the arrested members, Rilwan Idris, of Rickey Tarfa and Co. Chambers, told journalists that the suspects were not charged to court after the arrest.
He gave the DSS till Friday to release the operators or face a legal action.
Idris said the affected members were invited for questioning at the DSS headquarters on March 9, 12 and 16, 2021, which they honoured.
He said they had written a letter to the DSS to confirm the whereabouts of the members, but had yet to get a response and all efforts to reach them had remained futile.
He said, “Keeping them against their rights is against the law. If we don’t get a response today (Tuesday), we will write a follow up letter tomorrow (Wednesday) and if we don’t get a response to the follow up letter, by Friday, we will be filing the matter in court.”
