Some 486 people, all believed to be northerners, have been arrested in Nigeria's southeastern Abia State on suspicions of membership in Boko Haram, prompting fears of ethnic profiling.
"Thirty-three… vehicles carrying 486 persons suspected to be insurgents were intercepted by the military very late on Sunday," Eze Chikamnayo, spokesman for Abia Governor Theodore Orji, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
"The suspects are being detained pending the outcome of investigations into their suspicious movements during the night," he said.
Chikamnayo did not say whether anything incriminating had been found on the suspects, who reportedly included eight women.
The mass arrests followed a security scare that followed a botched attempt on Sunday to bomb a church in Imo, another southeastern state.
Some Nigerians have linked the incident to the Boko Haram insurgency in the country's northeast – a blanket characterization the police have warned against.
Defense spokesman Chris Olukolade has yet to respond to AA's requests for comment.
-Profiling-
The mass arrests have sparked fears of ethnic profiling, which some activists warn could trigger tensions nationwide.
These fears are based on the similar mass arrest in January of 320 Hausa Fulani hustlers who had also been traveling in a convoy of buses in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers State.
The suspects, believed to be northerners who were traveling south in search of greener pastures, were subsequently released following a nationwide uproar.
Kayode Ogundamisi, a prominent Nigerian blogger and activist, criticized the latest raft of arrests, which he condemned as "racial profiling."
"Rounding up people of northern Nigeria origin and tagging them Boko Haram suspects is unacceptable," he tweeted on Tuesday.
"Abia State is part of Nigeria. Northerners have a right to free movement in Nigeria," Ogundamisi said. "Abia State should free 480 Hausas arrested."
The hashtag #Free480NorthernersinAbia, created by Ogundamisi and used by several other activist tweeters, is currently trending across Nigeria.
But there are others who believe security agents should have the authority to arrest suspicious individuals.
"These Twitter activists asking for the release of suspects… will be the first to lambast if anything goes wrong," Aka Ebube, a staunchly pro-government commentator, told AA.
"If you ask them the name of one suspect, they don't know. They don't even know the formal charges before them," said Ebube. "All they know is, 'Release them'."
By Rafiu Ajakaye
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
