By Igoniko Oduma / Correspondent, Yenagoa
Farmers in Bayelsa State operating under the aegis of The Lord’s Vineyard (Agricultural) Company have decried the continued detention of its chairman, Orusademe Fouyouowei, by the State Security Service (SSS).
It was gathered that the SSS operatives arrested him last Wednesday while he was attempting to access the Federal Government’s agricultural loan scheme.
Fouyouowei was said to have been arrested and detained along side six of his staff and some farmers, including men and women, registered with the company.
Some of the aggrieved farmers said in Yenagoa that the SSS had released others but had refused to let go the chairman, keeping him incommunicado and denying him food and water.
They alleged that a police officer dressed in mufti was also assaulted, handcuffed and taken away while on duty on the premises of the company at Ayeni Street, Yenizue-Epie, Yenagoa, by the armed SSS officials.
According to them, several files containing the details of farmers registered with the company were also reportedly removed.
Fouyouowei was seeking a loan facility from Mainstreet Bank for disbursement to farmers registered with the company who had raised eyebrows as his arrest coincided with the time for disbursement of the funds.
He had received money from some farmers promising to help them access the agricultural loans and issued them post-dated cheques based on assurances from the bank which reneged on its assurances.
Some of the farmers threatened to take to the streets to demand his release as they never complained to the SSS.
They maintained that there was no basis for the SSS to detain Fouyouowei as the matter had no connection with security, alleging it was a ploy to derail government policies on agricultural development.
But in his reaction, the state Director of SSS, Dawa, who confirmed the arrests, said they received complaints that Fouyouowei, who had been operating since 2010, collected money from farmers but had been postponing the date of accessing the loan.
“We are trying to determine how many farmers are registered with him and if it is true about the bank”, said Dawa, who added that they did not know how much he collected from the farmers.
He also debunked claims that Fouyouowei was being kept incommunicado and denied food and water, saying, “I have been feeding him since”.
“It’s just today that I told him to ask someone to bring him food. How can I do a thing like that?”
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