An Ogun State indigene, Pastor Kunle Garb has been arrested by policemen from Benin Republic, who stormed Igbokofi, a border community in Ogun State over boundary disputes.
It was gathered that the activist was arrested over his involvement in preventing the unlawful takeover of Nigerian lands in Yewa North Local Government by the Beninoise government.
But, the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Friday appealed to the Federal Government to immediately secure the man, who he said is “currently languishing in detention in Benin Republic.”
According to Abiodun, Garb was abducted at the village market, last week by gendarmes (Beninoise Police) who he claimed crossed illegally into the Nigerian territory to carry out the daring act, after they have succeeded in scaring away traders and Nigerians at the market.
According to Gov Abiodun, the arrested Ogun indigene had consistently campaigned against incessant harassment of Nigerians by the government of Benin Republic, which is attempting to forcefully annex the Nigerian territory.
In a statement on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, the Governor lamented that Garb was taken away in a gestapo manner by the armed security agents from the neighbouring country.
Pastor Garb, it was learnt, has since been charged to a court and remanded under inhuman conditions in Benin Republic and was denied access to his lawyer, doctor and family members.
In a protest to the Federal Government, Abiodun narrated the ordeal of Nigerians living at the border towns, calling for prompt action by relevant authorities to prevent further harassment of Ogun indigenes and encroachment on the Nigerian territorial borders.
He called on the National Boundary Commission to do more in clearly demarcating Nigeria’s international borders with Benin Republic, even as he charged security agents to properly secure Nigerians in the border communities.
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