The Rivers State Government has kicked against the arraignment of some loyalists of Governor Simi Fubara, in connection with the bombing of the Rivers State Assembly complex on October 30, 2023.
They were arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja and subsequently remanded by the court till February 2.
Reacting to the development, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, told Punch: “There is nobody that will be happy to say that we have counted about four, five of them that are in detention. It is not very salutary. But what can we do? It is part of the challenge and I am sure that Supreme Court judgment (affirming Fubara’s election) will try to build back most of the lost grounds. I want to believe all these things are politically motivated.
“So we will follow due process and the law requires that for you to take somebody out of the Correctional Centre you must follow due process. And if the court has adjourned we will plead with those who are affected to endure as we make preparations to grant them bail.”
On their part, the Rivers elders, through their leader, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, said, “A crime was committed in Port Harcourt and the people arrested are suspects. Nobody quarrels about police investigation, but since the crime was committed in Port Harcourt it is assumed that they would be tried in Port Harcourt. And the crime committed is within the state. I don’t know why it has to go to the Federal High Court. The police know what they are doing and it is very obvious that there is a fifth columnist in this matter.”
The Rivers Assembly was bombed amid a plot by 27 lawmakers loyal to the immediate-past governor of Rivers, Nyesom Wike, to impeach Fubara.
The defendants arraigned by the police in connection with the incidents were Chime Ezebalike, Lukman Oladele, Kenneth Kpasa, Osiga Donald, and Ochueja Thankgod.
