A sitting at the Court of Appeal in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state, was disrupted yesterday during an appeal filed by contending parties for the 2019 tickets of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Read below the press statement as issued by Rivers branch of APC.
The
Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) is shocked how
two lawyers who are appointees of Gov. Nyesom Wike led PDP thugs to
assault innocent witnesses in the Appeal Court of Justice Ali Gumel in
Port-Harcourt yesterday.
Trouble started after the lawyers of
Rivers State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presented their
matter before the Justice Gumel appeal panel. Later, the court called
the matter between the Rivers State Chapter of APC and Senator Magnus
Abe. As counsels to parties announced their presence and presentations
commenced, Barr. Chris Itamunala and Barr. Osima Ginah led a group of
PDP thugs into the courtroom and they started attacking lawyers and
witnesses claiming that the court should not sit in compliance with the
ongoing NBA court boycott.
Our party members, who were eager to
have our matter heard by the Appeal Panel, were not spared by the
hoodlums. Apart from the Justices, the PDP thugs led by Itamunala and
Ginah assaulted everyone in the courtroom. All appeals by Justice Ali
Gumel and his colleagues fell on deaf ears as the thugs kept shouting
that the sitting must not hold even as they continued the physical
attack.
We recall that the previous day, the same thugs had
invaded the court claiming to enforce the NBA court boycott. That fracas
elicited strong words of condemnation from Justice Gumel.
“Lawyers
are supposed to be keepers and protectors of laws but it is shameful
that those who should protect the law and act as stakeholders in the
quest for justice chose to desecrate the sanctity of the very temple of
justice they are supposed to protect. It is sad,” Justice Gumel
bemoaned.
As a political party, we condemn this assault on the
judiciary as seen today. We believe that members of the press who
witnessed the unfortunate incident will not be deterred in bringing it
to the public space for the benefit of Nigerians. Equally we believe
that well-meaning Nigerians will condemn this act of wanton assault and
desecration of the judiciary by agents of Rivers State Government under
the guise of enforcing NBA court boycott. We know that the main purpose
of the assault was to cause an indefinite postponement of the hearing of
APC matters by the Appeal Court with a view to scuttling APC presence
on INEC ballot for the forthcoming elections.
We urge members of
the judiciary not to fall for the cheap antics of Gov. Nyesom Wike, his
agents and the PDP. We enjoin APC members to continue to remain
law-abiding as we will surmount the present temporary hurdles by our
opponents.
Chris Finebone
State Publicity Secretary
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