1st April, 2023
By Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Three lawyers and some members of All Progressives Congress, APC working on the petition the party intended to file at Election petition tribunal on the March 18 governorship and state house of assembly election in Rivers have been arrested by the police n Port Harcourt.
The lawyers were said to be putting together the petition with the support of the APC members against when they were arrested by the Police at a hotel they were lodging in at Port Harcourt on Friday evening.
It has been difficult to ascertain the reason for their arrest.
The arrested lawyers who are practicing in the Chamber of Tuduru Ede, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN based in Rivers, were identified as Jerry Aondo, Dr. Sobere Nelson and Odum Eyiba.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also confirmed the arrest of the lawyers to Rhythm 93.7fm, a Port Harcourt.
It was gathered that the lawyers and other arrested APC members were first taken to the Police Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, Ogumnabali, Port Harcourt after they were arrested.
They where later transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID.
It was learnt that items critical for the petitions they were preparing, including laptops, agents’ copies of form EC8 m, Certified True Copies, CTC of INEC documents were also seized by the police operatives.
Rivers State APC Spokesperson Mr. Darlington Nwauju also confirmed the arrest.
Nwauju had earlier raised an alarm on alleged plots by the Police to arrest some members, especially the candidates of the party who have vowed to reclaim their alleged snatched mandate.
The Rivers State Police Command has not given any reason for the arrest of the lawyers and the APC members at time of filing this report.
Rivers APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole and other members of the party had staged a peaceful protest to the INEC Office in Port Harcourt yesterday over the alleged frustration in getting some vital documents to file their petition.
See APC PRESS STATEMENT
The statement below 👇
FRESH PLOT TO ARREST RIVERS APC MEMBERS UNCOVERED
The All Progressives Congress party in Rivers State has intercepted very credible intelligence of plots by Police authorities in Rivers State, principally coordinated by a few tactical teams under the command (e.g. C4i unit etc), to begin a manhunt for members of the APC in Rivers State, especially our House of Assembly candidates who are determined to reclaim their mandates through Constitutional means in order to frustrate the push to reclaim these stolen mandates at the Election Petitions Tribunal (EPT).
This latest strategy is to say the least, emblematic of the serial illegality, conspiracy, intimidation and harassment that the opposition political parties have had to face and have continued to face under the despotic reign of the outgoing Government.
We wish to warn Police authorities in Rivers State to stop the open display of partisanship which was brought to the fore on the 25th February and 18th March 2023, when the free will of Rivers people to voluntarily pick their representatives and Governor was scuttled by the INEC and the Nigeria Police Force.
For the purposes of emphasis, no amount of threats, harassments or intimidations can deter Rivers APC from reclaiming all the mandates freely given to our party by Rivers people as we are already aware that the INEC in Rivers State is struggling to provide evidences of the elections it claimed to have “perfectly” conducted in Rivers State on the 25th February and March 18th 2023.
Signed:
Darlington Nwauju
Rivers State APC Spokesperson
31st March
Ends