The Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, Bemgba Iortyom, has been detained in the custody of the Department of State Service (DSS).
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the PDP Chairman of Benue North East (Zone A), Adzua Ashongo, on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
Ashongo stated that Iortyom was detained after he honoured an invitation by the DSS.
He noted that he and some PDP leaders in Benue State accompanied the party’s publicity secretary to honour the invitation, saying they were received by an official of the DSS in charge of the political desk of the secret police, Danlami Imam.
Ashongo disclosed that Imam told them ten minutes after their arrival that the DSS director was unavailable due to official engagements.
He said Iortyom was later called back and taken into custody, noting that the reasons behind the PDP spokesman’s invitation by the secret police were not stated.
The PDP chieftain stated that Iortyom’s whereabouts were still unknown, adding that the sudden detention might be linked to Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia.
He stated: “I, along with the Media Consultant of the party, C.T.Hwande and a representative of the State Legal Adviser, accompanied Mr. Iortyom to honour the invitation.
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“We arrived at the DSS headquarters in Makurdi at exactly 12:47 p.m. and were warmly received by one Danlami Imam, who we later discovered is in charge of the Political Desk of the Command.
“Ten minutes after our arrival, Mr. Imam returned and asked us to leave as the Director who demanded the invitation of the PDP Spokesman was busy with other official engagements and would not be seeing us immediately. He said he would not want to make it look like Bemgba Iortyom was being detained by the Service.
“We left the DSS premises, and barely 20 minutes after we arrived at the Party Secretariat, there was a call from the same Mr. Imam requesting that we return to the command headquarters, indicating that, the Director was now available and ready to meet with Mr. Iortyom.
“Strange as this sounded, but as a law-abiding citizen, Bemgba Iortyom drove back to the DSS headquarters, this time, the State Treasurer of the PDP, Philip Bem Gbe had joined us.
“As soon as we arrived, at about 2:11 p.m., two gentlemen walked up to us, claiming to be from the office of the Director and took Bemgba Iortyom away. All efforts we made to accompany him failed as we were told that only Bemgba Iortyom was invited by the Command.
“And up until 6:17 p.m. when we were asked to leave the premises of the Command this evening, the whereabouts of Mr. Bemgba Iortyom were not known; neither were we told if he had been detained or not.
“And because we were not allowed access to him, one cannot say, for sure, if his invitation was as a result of a petition written against him or a complaint from any quarter or better still, was in a friendly chat with the Command’s Director.
“One thing is however certain; it is not common for the DSS to invite anyone without a reason, let alone, the Publicity Secretary of an opposition party, and someone in the quality of Bemgba Iortyom who fearlessly bares his mind as an opposition spokesperson and remains one of the most vocal voices against the administration of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Benue.”
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