Rivers Election Petition:  APC Lawyers Arrested, Detained By Police As Deadline Approaches

By Charles Igbo

The absurd has, again, happened in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

A team of Lawyers, hired by the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers State, to file petitions at the Election Petition Tribunal allege they have been whisked away by the Police, and detained.

Reports say the Lawyers were taken away by Policemen attached to Hypercity Supermarket Police Station, Ogbunabali, Port Harcourt.

The Lawyers were arrested at Bayview Hotel, Tombia Road, GRA Phase 2, Porthacourt. All of them are from the Chambers of  Tuduru Ede, SAN, & Co.

They were working in order to beat the deadline in filing election petitions on the  Governorship and State Assembly Elections in the  State.

In a Save Our Soul message the Lawyers alleged that they were swooped upon by the Police operatives while they “were preparing to file election petitions on behalf of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some of its candidates to challenge the outcome of the 18th March Governorship and State Assembly elections.”

Their distress was made public through a post by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, who  confirmed the ugly development.

The post titled:“DISTRESS ALERT: NIGERIA POLICE ARRESTS LAWYERS PREPARING ELECTION PETITIONS FOR ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS CANDIDATES IN PORT HARCOURT reads:

“Early this morning the 1/4/2023 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force unlawfully and illegally arrested lawyers and support staff of Tuduru Ede SAN &Co,  who were preparing Election Petitions for APC candidates who INEC claimed lost the elections of 18th March 2023 to the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“The arrests were made at Bayview Hotel along Tombia Road,GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt.

“The lawyers owing to tight timelines to file petitions quartered in the hotel to meet filing periods of 21 days.

“They only had FORMs EC8As and related FORMs issued by INEC and committed no offences for accepting and working their briefs.

“Their clients who are APC and APC candidates have right of access to the Tribunal which the Police in collaboration with PDP are aggressively trying to obstruct by arresting and humiliating lawyers.

“The arrested lawyers include Aondo Jerry, Dr Nelson U.Sobere and Odum C. Eyiba.

“They are currently held at Hypercity Supermarket Police Station at Ogbunabali, Port Harcourt without access to them even upon several efforts of their principal Tuduru Ede SAN and other APC chieftains.”

It will be recalled that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, had issued an Executive Order, which banned Political Parties from using Hotels and other recreational centres as meeting points labelling any such meeting as an avenue to recruit cultists. But these are Lawyers lodged in the Hotel to do their work.

At the time of filing this report, it could not be confirmed if the Lawyers have been released or not, just as there had been no statements from the Police or the Nigeria Bar Association, Rivers State or the National body.

For the records, in the just concluded elections, Wike, a PDP Governor, freely and publicly worked for two Political Parties – APC and PDP.

In the Presidential election held on the 25th February, 2023, he worked for the Candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, now the President-elect, against his own Party. But, he was, also, clever enogh to deliver PDP National Assembly Candidates. How he was able to pull off that feat is a story on its own.

And, in the Governorship election held on the 18th March, he worked for the PDP to deliver his chosen Candidate, Sim Fubara of the PDP, and all PDP Candidates of the State House of Assembly.

It is the conduct and outcome of the 18th March Elections that the APC and their candidates in Rivers State are challenging. Sadly for them, they are not likely to get any help from their National Headquarters because Wike helped them to deliver their Presidential Candidate, Tinubu.