Rivers State House of Assembly,Mr.Chidi
Lloyd, is undergoing a regime of torture in
police custody,his counsel, Mr. Beluolisa
Nwaofor (SAN), alleged yesterday.
Lloyd was clamped into detention on
Tuesday after reporting at the Police
Headquarters, Abuja.
He had been declared wanted by the
police on the grounds of attempting to
murder a fellow member of the state
Assembly, Mr. Michael Chinda, one of the
five anti-Amaechi legislators who stormed
the House on July 9 to impeach the
Speaker and install their own choice.
He has since been facing a panel of police
interrogators and was flown to Port
Harcourt yesterday ostensibly for the
commencement of his trial and the
hearing of the suit he filed to restrain the
police from inviting and arresting him.
The day ended without the police
arraigning him in court or the suit being
heard,his lawyers,friends and associates
having waited for several hours in court.
Mr. Nwaofor said yesterday that Lloyd
was blindfolded shortly on his arrival in
Port Harcourt from the Force
Headquarters, Abuja.
He told the state High Court, presided
over by Justice Esor Teetito,which is
hearing Lloyd's suit that the continued
blindfolding and detention of his client is
dangerous to his health and life.
He appealed to the court to make an
interim order for his release pending the
hearing of the motions before the court.
Mr. Nwaofor wondered why the police
failed to bring Lloyd to court on the suit
filed by him.
His words: "The applicant was brought
from Abuja this morning (yesterday) by
the police blindfolded and now being
detained at the Police Officers' Mess here
in Port Harcourt.
"Based on the rules governing
fundamental human rights, the court
should make an interim order for his
temporary release pending the decision
on the suit. This is necessary because the
safety of my client cannot be guaranteed
in the hands of the police.You are aware
of what is happening now. Anything can
happen before next week."
A member of Lloyd's legal team, Mr.
Emenike Ebete, who accompanied the
detainee to Port Harcourt from Abuja
threw light on Lloyd's ordeal.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the
court's sitting, Mr. Ebete said: "We
reported to the IGP on Tuesday. We held
a meeting with the IG and the DIG. My
client, Chidi Lloyd, turned himself over to
the police at the Force Headquarters.
"They treated us with respect.We were
with them for about four days, and they
did their investigation.Late yesterday
(Thursday) we were told that he would be
charged to court this morning (yesterday)
and we left Abuja as early as 7am. By
8.45am, we landed at the Air Force base,
Port Harcourt.
"Thereafter, there was a signal that the
place was not safe, and that we should
hold on. That was when I started smelling
rat.We waited for over two hours, after
which we were asked to go.
"Over 500 policemen in their Hilux
vehicles and Armoured Personnel Carriers
(APC) were all over the place. At a point
when we started moving, we stopped for
over 30 minutes; they said they were
waiting for another vehicle.
"At the end of the day, we got to the
office of the state Commissioner of Police
(CP), Mbu J. Mbu. My client emerged
from the Black Maria. He was brought in
with a black blindfold, as if he is a
common criminal. He walked into the
CP's office, and they spent about three
minutes.The CP then drove off to where
God knows.
"Later we went to the Police Officers'
Mess where we were waiting for his
charge sheet to be prepared, so he could
be brought to court.Since 12noon, we
have been waiting. Till now, that charge
has not been filed.
"What that means is that they are going
to keep him there throughout the
weekend. I am not even sure if they will
even charge him to court on Monday.
"What that means now is that he will
remain in their custody, exposed to all
sorts of inhuman treatment. His life is
even in danger. We are not sure if he is
going to survive because this place is not
safe for him.
"I am calling on everybody to know that
our client (Chidi Lloyd) is in the hands of
Rivers State Police Command unsafe.
"We brought him from Abuja to be
charged today (yesterday); his charges are
ready. The prosecutor came with us from
Abuja.Uptill now 5:10 Pm, the charge has
not been filed.
"I smell rat, not from the Force
Headquarters, but here in Rivers State
Command.
"We are calling on Rivers people to know
that this is what is happening in the state
now.If tomorrow Chidi Lloyd is no more
there, the police should be held
responsible.
"Abuja Headquarters treated him with
respect; he was never brutalized there. It
was only when we came here that the
whole event changed."
Asked why the police chose to focus on
Lloyd, Ebete said: "In the entire fracas, he
was the only person invited, and he
appeared there (Force Headquarters) and
made his statement.
"What happened there at the House is a
bailable offence; it is simple assault which
the police could even grant bail at the
station. Why is it that this one is
generating a lot of tension? It is not
murder. So why is it that his own is
different more so when it happened on
the floor of the House?"
Meanwhile,Lloyd, in his claims before the
court, said the incident for which the
police wanted him took place in the
hallowed chambers of legislators, adding
that he was protected by immunity under
section 21 of Legislative House Powers
and provisions Act.
He urged the court to grant him the
order against the police.
However, the defence said while
legislators enjoy certain immunity by
reason of their office it is not every action
on the floor of the House that is covered
by immunity, and that the offence for
which Lloyd is being held enjoys no
immunity.
They urged the court to dismiss the suit.
The judge adjourned the matter till
August 6 for ruling on the two motions.
The Chairman, House of Representatives
Committee on Petroleum Resources
(Downstream), Hon. Dakuku Peterside,
yesterday condemned the alleged torture
by the police in Rivers State of Lloyd.
Peterside, a supporter of Governor
Amaechi,claimed that the detainee "has
been consistently abused by hitting,
battering, pushing, kicking, handcuffing
and uttering of obscenities, thereby
demeaning him all in a bid to coerce and
compel him to obtain an involuntary
extra-judicial confessional statement.
"This torture sadly is taking place at the
Rivers State Police Command.
"For the records, let us state that section
34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as
amended, prohibits this crude and
barbaric conduct of Commissioner of
Police of Rivers State as every citizen of
this country is entitled to respect for his
human dignity and Mbu does not have
unbridled power to deprive any citizen of
this constitutionally guaranteed right,
especially in a democracy.
"This is not only condemnable but
regrettable. Rivers State Police Command
under Mbu seems not to be bothered by
the fact that any evidence that is obtained
by force, torture, intimidation or by any
form of abuse is not admissible in the
court of law, and this is unfortunate".
0 100000:
Post a Comment