Rivers Police Command Defends Arrest Of Lawyers; NBA Spits Fire; IGP Orders Release

By Charles Igbo

The Rivers State Police Command which, inexplicably, arrested five Lawyers hired by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and their Governorship Candidate, Tonye Cole, to file its Petition at the  Election Petition Tribunal against the Peoples Democratic Party and its Candidate, Sim Fubara, now Governor-elect, has defended its action.

In a statement issued by its Spokesperson, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, the Command said it acted on information.

It said it received information on 31st March that “some lodgers occupying three rooms in a popular hotel, were seen carrying packages in and out of the rooms and printing what seems LIKE INEC documents (including results) A video recording of the activities in one of the rooms was forwarded by the informant to the Police Commissioner.”

The Lawyers, all from the Chambers of Tuduru Ede, SAN, were arrested, alongside three support staff from the APC, at Bayview Hotel, Tombia Road, GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt where they lodged.

They were arrested, without investigation on Friday night and detained till Saturday night before they were released, on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, based on a report to him by the President of the Nigeria Bar Association,   Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, who also issued a statement.

In the statement, the NBA condemned, strongly, the unwarranted arrest of the Lawyers and described it as unfortunate and disturbing. It also hinted it would take action against all involved in the embarrassing incident, and wants them punished.

Said Maikyau in the statement he personally signed:

“The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) strongly condemns such unwarranted harassment of lawyers in the lawful performance of their professional duties to their clients.

“Situations where the instrumentality of the Police is apparently being used to harass and intimidate lawyers, is a direct affront to the rule of law and a threat to our democracy; it is an invitation to anarchy and chaos, as people would rather resort to self-help than approach the civil and constitutional means provided for the resolution of disputes.”

He said he had spoken with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba and the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, and, “I have been assured of the release of our colleagues.

“We shall also take up the matter to ensure that any person(s) including Police officers, who may be found complicit in the events leading to the arrest of our colleagues, is sanctioned for any possible abuse of office.”

But, the Rivers State Police Command while justifying its handling of the incident said in a statement:

RE-RREST OF LAWYERS HANDLING APC ELECTION PETITION.

“The attention of Rivers State Police Command has been drawn to the news of the arrest of lawyers handling APC election matters. It is important to inform the public of what really happened.

“On 31/3/23 at about 11.20am information was received that some lodgers occupying three* (3) rooms in a popular hotel, were seen carrying packages in and out of the rooms, and printing what seems like INEC documents (including results). A video recording of the activities in one of the rooms was forwarded by the informant to the Police Commissioner.

“The information neither disclosed the identity of the lodgers nor who they were working for.

“As a responsible law enforcement agency, the Police needed to act on the intelligence. Thus, on the basis of the report, the Police approached the court to obtain a search warrant. The warrant was dutifully executed on 1/4/23 at about 7.02am. In the course of the search,  eight (8) persons were arrested, and several documents, laptops and printers recovered.

“The arrested persons and exhibits were taken to the Surveillance Centre and later transferred to the State CID. An Assistant Commissioner of Police was tasked to lead the investigation team. It was in the process of profiling them that it was revealed that three(3) of the arrested persons were lawyers. The APC State Chairman and the party Gubernatorial candidate in the last election showed up at the station to inform the Police that the lawyers were actually hired by the party to prepare their papers for filling at the election tribunal.

“Subsequently, the NBA President and General Secretary called the Commissioner of Police, who assured them that the lawyers would be released when they had finished making their statements. Accordingly, the lawyers were promptly released on self recognizance, while the other five(5) persons were released to a reliable surety.

“Meanwhile, since the investigating team lacked the technical competence to establish the veracity of the suspected printed fake INEC documents, the State REC was requested to send the Commission’s ICT personnel to inspect and identify the documents.The Police Command wishes to assure that once that is done, the most appropriate and professional thing will be done.

“The Command enjoins members of the public to continue to furnish the Police with information and report every suspicious movements around them; as the  effectiveness of Community Policing is predicated on collaboration and information sharing.”

As at 10pm Saturday, the documents and laptops  seized from the Lawyers were still with the Police.