Vice chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Kogi State, Eleojo Opaluwa has been allegedly been abducted by the police.
According to Vanguard, Opaluwa, an official of the National Union of Electricity Employees was whisked away by operatives of NPF’s Intelligence Response Team, IRT, in Mararaba, Nasarawa State on August 4, 2024 and has been kept incommunicado since.
Eyewitnesses said they saw Opaluwa being transported in police vehicles, including a Hilux and a Gulf, after he left his family to meet an unidentified caller.
Later that day, around 5 p.m., security personnel in a Toyota Jeep visited the NUEE office in Area 8, Garki, seeking information about Opaluwa.
The office guard informed them that while Opaluwa was an employee, he was not present due to it being a weekend.
Opaluwa’s family, unaware of his detention, began searching for him and reported his disappearance to the Mararaba Police Station.
They were instructed to return the following day if he did not come home.
When they did, they were asked to provide a photo and details to officially declare him missing.
Despite complying, the police have not yet made a missing person declaration.
NUEE’s Acting General Secretary, Dominic Igwebike, confirmed the abduction, noting that Opaluwa was taken by security personnels in their vehicles and has since been unreachable.
On August 8, 2024, he was briefly brought to his office by security officers but was then removed again without being allowed to speak to his colleagues.
Attempts to contact Opaluwa by phone and visits to local police stations have been unsuccessful.
NUEE has engaged a lawyer to notify the National Security Adviser about Opaluwa’s situation.
The NUEE raised alarm that Opaluwa was being denied his rights to legal representation, family contact, and freedom.
The union called for the immediate release of Opaluwa, condemning his detention as a severe rights violation.
