Nine commercial motorcyclists, known as “yan achaba,” who were apparently missing while going from Kirfi Local Government Area in Bauchi State to Lafia in Nasarawa, were discovered in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.
According to Platinum Times, there was anger among the parents of the missing youngsters, who were on their way to Lafia for their bike taxi company before losing contact with relatives and friends last Saturday.
The Chairman of the Kirfi Local Government Council, Abdulkadir Umar Dewu, confirmed their release to press on Thursday.
He stated that the kids were arrested by the military task team Operation Safe Haven and imprisoned for four days with no incriminating evidence found against them.
The chairman said,
“We made several efforts at various Police formations in Bauchi, Plateau and Nasarawa States searching for their whereabouts but we were unsuccessful. It was the joint task force that arrested them and put them under severe torture without any justification for four days. If you see how terrified they look, you will sympathize with them”
Dewu added,
“What happened to the young men is disheartening, especially the action of the taskforce because we are not happy with the ugly incident. The young men were really terrorized and it’s unfortunate that security agents would conduct themselves in such an unprofessional act on innocent civilians.
“ I don’t even know how to describe the action of the task force. I believe it is the efforts of journalists and other people who publicize their story that really helped the situation, if not because of wider publicity, I doubt much about their discovery and subsequent release.”
The Chairman said further that the bikers possessed identification to verify their identities. However, despite this, the joint military task force disregarded their identification, confiscated and switched off their phones, and subsequently arrested and detained them for four days.