The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned what it described as brazen and unconstitutional human rights violations committed under the watch of Governors Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.

The group demanded the immediate and unconditional release of victims held in illegal detention by state-backed security agents in the two states, describing the actions as an assault on Nigeria’s constitutional democracy and a dangerous descent into lawlessness.

In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, decried the continued detention of Mr Daniel Ikwo, his heavily pregnant wife, Cynthia, and their two children, aged four and two, by operatives of the Anambra State security outfit, Udogachi.

The family was reportedly arrested on May 30, 2025, in Nnewi and held without charge or formal explanation for more than 20 days.

The association also criticised the Bauchi State government over the arrest and remand of Abubakar Ahmad, a lecturer at the Federal College of Horticulture, Gombe, allegedly detained for reposting a years-old video of the governor’s son, Shamsudeen Bala, on social media.

“These are not isolated incidents; they represent a deeply troubling pattern of state-sponsored tyranny. Governor Soludo must be held responsible for allowing vigilante operatives under his administration to abduct a pregnant woman and her toddlers without any legal basis. This is an outrage,” said Onwubiko.

On the Anambra case, HURIWA referenced a petition dated June 20, 2025, submitted to the State Commissioner of Police and corroborated by media reports, which revealed that all efforts to gain access to the detained Ikwo family had been thwarted by the Udogachi command in Nnewi.

When the family visited the detention centre on June 18, they were only allowed to glimpse the mother and children from a distance, while the whereabouts of Mr Daniel Ikwo remained unknown.

“It is utterly reprehensible that in a so-called democratic state, a woman near delivery and her babies can be held like criminals without charge. This is not community policing; this is anarchy. If Governor Soludo fails to act, it signals his complicity,” HURIWA stated.

The group also criticised the response of the Anambra Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, who reportedly dismissed concerns by telling the family to “go to court.”

“Such cold indifference to injustice shows a complete breakdown of moral and constitutional leadership. How do you tell a family torn apart by illegal arrest to simply go to court while the state continues to brutalise them?” Onwubiko queried.