Three lawyers have been arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Police in Port Harcourt while reportedly filing tribunal processes for the All Progressives Congress APC in Rivers State.
Nigeriacrime.com gathered that the lawyers were preparing petitions for the APC in Rivers State to officially file a legal proceeding against the conduct and results of the just concluded governorship election in the state.
The three lawyers from the Tuduru Ede’s Chamber, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, were lodged in a hotel where they were working before police stormed them and picked them up on Friday night.
Confirming the development, the Principal of the three lawyers, Tuduru Ede, SAN, said the act was carried out by the police, adding that his colleagues were picked and taken to Ogbunabali Police State without reason.
Ede stated that the act was perpetrated in connivance with the Peoples Democratic Party and the state government to frustrate the APC’s move to the tribunal.
He said: “Three lawyers filing the process for the APC in Rivers State were arrested last night while they were preparing the papers by the Nigeria Police in collaboration with the PDP.
“The arrest is to prevent the APC from filing their process to court. Three lawyers and some support staff members were arrested who are typing the petitions.
“They made away with duplicate copies of Form EC8A and others documents that they were using in filing the petitions.”
Meanwhile, the 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 happened.
Speaking on the arrest, SP Grace Iringe-koko Police Public Relations Officer Rivers State Police Command, said that On 31 March 23 at about 11.20 am information was received that some lodgers occupying three years 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, based on the report, the Police approached the court to obtain a search warrant. The warrant was dutifully executed on 1/4/23 at about 7.02 am. In the course of the search, eight (8) persons were arrested, and several documents, laptops and printers were 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 of the arrested persons were lawyers.
The APC State Chairman and the party’s 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 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 movement around them; as the effectiveness of Community Policing is predicated on collaboration and information sharing.