Majority Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd,
was blindfolded by the police on arrival at the Port Harcourt
International Airport Friday, before being taken to the Police Command
for interrogation.
NE gathered that Lloyd, who had on
Tuesday July 23 reported to Police Headquarters in Abuja following an
earlier invitation by the police, was flown back to Port Harcourt
yesterday morning amidst tight security.
On arrival, the
police immediately blindfolded him and whisked him away to the Police
Headquarters on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt for further interrogation.
Counsel to Lloyd, Emenike Ebete told The Guardian that he had
anticipated that the Police would arraign Lloyd in court to enable him
apply for his bail but after several hours of delay, the police legal
team failed to take him to court.
He accused the police of deliberating frustrating Lloyd’s legal team effort to secure his release.
“The Police dehumanized him by blind-folding him from the airport to
the Police Headquarters. Worst still, he was supposed to be arraigned in
court today (yesterday) but the police also frustrated his arraignment
knowing too well that it was Friday.
“The pplice know that if
he goes to court, he will get bail and so they just want to keep him
till Monday in a bid to punish him,” he said.
A top police
officer who pleaded anonymity, said Lloyd was actually blindfolded to
prevent people from recognizing him as he was being taken from the
airport to Police Headquarters. The source did not however confirm if he
was physically assaulted.
Some of the pro-Governor Chibuike
Amaechi members of the House of Assembly who had anticipated that Lloyd
would be arraigned by the police, waited in vain at the state judicial
complex Friday.
When The Guardian contacted the Police
Command spokesperson, Angela Agabe, on phone to confirm if the lawmaker
was being tortured by the police, she claimed she was busy.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources
(Downstream) in the House of Representatives, Dakuku Peterside, Friday
accused the Rivers State Police Command of subjecting Lloyd to torture
in a bid to coerce and compel him to obtain an involuntary
extra-judicial confessional statement.
Peterside, the federal
lawmaker representing Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro Federal in a statement made
available to The Guardian, said the torture of Lloyd is taking place at
the Rivers State Police Command where he was transferred to under the
strict and personal supervision of the state Police Commissioner, Mbu
Joseph Mbu.
“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,” he
said.
For Peterside, said the police action is not only
condemnable, but also regrettable. The Rivers State Police Command under
Mbu, according to him, 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”.
The lawmaker wondered why this is happening at this time despite the intervention of the National Assembly.
“This inhuman conduct by Rivers State Police Command is not only a
gross abuse of the fundamental human rights of the accused, but further
confirms our fears that Mbu is out to eliminate Lloyd who has been
subjected to horrific ordeal since his return to Rivers State, and other
pro-Amaechi lawmakers,” he said.
This development, he
stressed, is antithetical to the Geneva Convention which expressly
demands that countries take effective measures to prevent torture within
their borders.
According to him, other international laws
also confirm that torture and other mistreatment of persons in custody
are also prohibited in all circumstances under international human
rights law.
Peterside however praised the Inspector General of
Police, Mohammed Abubakar, for the civility and professionalism he
exhibited during Lloyd’s short stay at the Police Headquarters in Abuja.
He, therefore, called on “the Police High Command to do the needful and
stop subjecting the accused to these inhumanities until full
investigation into the crisis is concluded. He has neither been
convicted of any offence nor condemned to perpetual incarceration in
police custody by any court of law.”
Lloyd was later driven out
of the Police Officers’ Mess in an unmarked Armoured Personnel Carrier
(APC) to a destination The Guardian could not ascertain at the time of
filing this report.
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He Mr. Lloyd deserves more severe treatment than this as he sold himself out as a cultist rather than honorable member. That video footage all over in the net will eventually convict him in any law court. We saw the way he was pounding Mr. Chinda's head severally with the Mace to the point that the Mace got broken. Whatever, the grievance was he lost his head to emotions and will have to pay for his mistake and miscarriage of judgment and actions. We are watching as this will test our judiciary credibility in nurturing our nascent democracy.
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