• Indigenes in court over lawmaker's detention
• Group holds confab to end crisis
A RIVERS State High Court has dismissed a suit filed by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree, to restrain the police from arresting him over the alarm he raised concerning a plot to assassinate Governor Chibuike Amaechi.
Meanwhile, a suit has been filed at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt challenging the continued detention of Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd.
In a related development, a peace conference aimed at ending the political crisis in Rivers State will hold on August 3, 2013. The latest effort is an initiative of the Queen Akasoba Duke-Abiola, the Akasoba of Kalabari and Chair, Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ACPCR).
The presiding judge, Justice Adolphous Enebeli, after hearing the arguments of the parties involved in the matter, said there was no legal justification to issue a perpetual injunction as requested by the Speaker to restrain the police from investigating any citizen of Nigeria for an offence.
Justice Enebeli also said that the allegation of bias levelled against the Rivers State Police Command by the speaker was premature and cannot form a ground to restrain the law enforcement agency from discharging its constitutional duties.
The speaker was alleged to have written an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, urging him to intervene in the political crisis rocking the state as there was an attempt to assassinate the governor and himself.
Owing to the alarm, the State Police Command had to invite the speaker and the Chief of Staff, Tony Okocha, to the Government House for questioning.
Afraid that he might be arrested and detained by the police, the speaker approached the court to stop the police invitation and possible investigation on the matter.
Counsel to the speaker, Emenike Ebete, had in the course of the trial told the court that there was no prima facie evidence before the court to warrant his client to answer police invitation on the rumoured plot to assassinate him and the state governor.
Ebete maintained that the open letter to the president on the assassination plot allegedly written by the speaker did not emanate from his client, adding that the letter was not authored. To this end, he urged the court to restrain the police from infringing on the fundamental human rights of his client.
But the counsel to the Inspector General of Police, AIG Zone 6, Calabar and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police who are respondents, Donald Deewigwe, said it was imperative for the police to investigate the matter and for the speaker to defend the allegation.
Deewigwe warned that preventing the police from investigating a crime-related offence would endanger the lives of the citizens and increase problems in the society.
Justice Enebeli yesterday ruled that the police in Nigeria is constitutionally empowered to invite anyone that can provide useful information to it in the course of investigation.
The suit filed by Ken Atsuwete, Godknows Forth, James Amah, Austin Igwe, Oliver Amah and Aaron Omereji, is seeking that LIoyd be produced in court. The respondents are the Inspector General of Police and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police.
Lloyd is being held by the Police in connection with the bloody fracas which occurred in the Rivers State House of Assembly on July 9, 2013. Five out of 32 lawmakers had attempted to impeach the Speaker, Otelemaba Amachree and in the process a free for all ensued. Lloyd was accused of hitting one of the five lawmakers with a mace.
The plaintiffs in suit No. FHC/PH/144/2013, want the court to declare that Lloyd continued detention and restriction of movement and the refusal of the respondents to grant them access to him is illegal and constitutes a violation of their fundamental human rights guaranteed under Section 35, 36, 37, 41 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Article 6, 7, 12, 14, and 28 of the African Charter on Human Rights.
In an affidavit of urgency attached to the suit, the plaintiffs explained that on Friday July 26, Lloyd was surreptitiously whisked into Port Harcourt from Abuja, blindfolded and bundled into an unmarked vehicle and then promptly taken to an unknown destination.
According to them, the whereabouts of the lawmaker remains shrouded in mystery.
They argued that blindfolding the House Leader, who voluntarily submitted himself to the police, amounts to torture and subjection to degrading and inhuman treatment. To this end, the plaintiffs said it was with profound urgency that they had approached the court to order the police to produce Lloyd in court so that they can ascertain his safety and enforce his fundamental human rights which had been infringed upon by the police.
In their notice of motion, the plaintiffs prayed the court to order a mandatory injunction compelling the respondents to grant Lloyd bail. They also prayed the court to issue a perpetual injunction, restraining the police from detaining or refusing Lloyd access to his lawyer, younger brother, in-laws and relatives.
The police, according to the plaintiffs, appear to be bias owing to the fact that it was only Lloyd that was invited for interrogation for the fracas that broke out in the chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The peace conference will hold at the ACPCR Centre, Kula, Ekulama, where key actors in the political crisis are expected to discuss and find a lasting solution to the problem.
In a statement in Abuja yesterday, the ACPCR's Secretary, Dr. Jen Clarence, listed President Goodluck Jonathan; Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi; former Head of State Dr. Yakubu Gowon; former President of Zambia, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda and former United Nations Secretary General, Dr. Boutrous Boutrous Ghali as some of the key personalities who would attend the conference .
The Guardian