Igbo youths under the aegis of Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), has demanded the release of Eze Fredrick Nwajagu, the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate in Lagos State, who was arrested by the Department of State Service (DSS).

This is as the Lagos State Police Command has con­firmed the arrest of Eze Nwa­jagu, disclosing that he had been taken into the custody of the Department of State Ser­vices (DSS).

It was reported that the Igbo leader was arrested on Satur­day by a joint team of police­men and operatives of DSS.

This followed his alleged threat to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra to secure the proper­ties of Igbo people in the state.

Speaking in a viral video on Friday, he was quoted to have said: “We must have our security so that they will stop attacking us at midnight, in the morning and in the afternoon.

“When they discover that we have our security, they will think twice before attacking us. I am not saying a single word to be hidden.”

He also charged the public to make his claims go viral.

The state Police Public Rela­tions Officer, SP Benjamin Hun­deyin, said Nwajagu was arrest­ed during a midnight raid.

He said: “The operation was carried out at midnight. The security operatives didn’t meet him in his palace. But we found out through intelligence gathering that he had lodged in a hotel in Ejigbo.

“He was traced to the lo­cation and arrested around 1 am. He is currently in the DSS custody where he is being in­vestigated.”

Reacting, Igbo youths under the aegis of Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) have demanded the immediate release of Eze Nwajagu.

COSEYL, in a statement signed by its President Gener­al, Goodluck Ibem, described Nwajagu’s arrest as an insult and affront to the entire Igbo nation.

COSEYL said the mon­arch’s arrest was more an­noying when people “like MC Oluomo and his thugs who threatened Igbo are moving about freely.”

According to the apex so­cio-political youth group in the South East the so-called threat by Nwajagu was a child of ne­cessity following the docility of security agencies over the incessant senseless attacks against Igbo interests in Lagos.

“The statement by the Igbo leader was made because of the silence of the security agencies towards the attack on the Igbos in Lagos. The DSS and the police left the real cause of the problem to chase shadows.

“This same police and DSS that arrested Eze Fredrick Nwajagu and other innocent Igbos, what did they do when thugs were killing and attack­ing Igbos and their properties in Lagos during and after the general elections? The answer is nothing.

“Now the person who in­tends to make a move to protect himself and you go and arrest him, meaning that you want him to stand without doing anything and be killed?

“That is absolute balder­dash. Only a tree will hear that you will cut him down tomor­row and he will still stand in the same place without mak­ing a move.

“It is disgraceful that the La­gos police Spokesman, SP Ben­jamin Hundeyin said that he will resist any arrangement by the Igbos to protect themselves in Lagos but the same police will do nothing to protect the Igbos when thugs are killing and attacking Igbos and their businesses in Lagos.

“When MC Oluomo threat­ened to attack Igbos who will not vote for particular candi­dates during the elections in Lagos, the police and the DSS did not arrest him nor stop the attacks. But just a mere state­ment by an Igbo leader to pro­tect Igbo lives and properties in Lagos, the DSS and the police suddenly know how to arrest because the person involved is an Igbo man.

“We warn the DSS and the police in Lagos State to stop attacking and maltreating the Igbo because Nigeria belongs to all of us. No tribe is higher than the other in this country. Enough is enough!

“When the attacks on the Igbos lasted in Lagos, the DSS and the police kept silence, which is a tacit approval to the attacks against Igbos and their properties in Lagos.”