Judiciary
THE Owerri branch Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Damian Nosike, on Wednesday told PUNCH Metro that that the magistrate in charge of Umuneke Ngor Magistrate’s Court, in the Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, Ngozi Onyenemezu, who was allegedly assaulted by the police in court on July 19, and the registrar of the court have submitted their reports on what transpired on the day.
Nosike said the reports of the magistrate and that of the registrar of the court, which was submitted to the chief magistrate, “heavily indicted the Divisional Police Officer of the Ngor Okpala division, SP E. Moses, and his men.”
He said apart from assaulting two lawyers and the magistrate for discharging an armed robbery case because the charges were “defective,” the DPO and his men verbally attacked the female jurist “by calling her a prostitute.”
The NBA chairman said, “The female magistrate who was assaulted by the DPO of Ngor Okpala division and his men has submitted her report to the chief magistrate.
“The registrar of the court has equally submitted report. “The reports heavily indicted the policemen who desecrated the court by assaulting the magistrate and the two lawyers.”
On the statement made by the state Commissioner of Police, Dasuaki Galandanchi, that the lawyers were legally ignorant by protesting against a matter which was already in court, the NBA chairman queried, “”What does the CP know about the law?
He said, “The grouse for protest and the boycot of court sittings throughout the state and the matter which is in court are not the same.
“The matter in court is charges against two of our members which we are not against. The court has already commenced trial on the matter. But our grouse for protest is the police desecration of the court. These are two different issues.
“We insist that the Inspector General of Police should redeploy the Commissioner of Police because we can’t work with him. The IG should equally dismiss the Ngor Okpala DPO and his men who assaulted the magistrate and two of our members. They are not worthy to be policemen.
“We have equally watched the video clip which the CP talked about. The clip has one of our members carrying the hands of one of the seats which one of the police officers used in attacking him.
“If it was our members who attacked the policemen, how come none of them was injured? No single scratch on any police officer.Why is it that it was our members who sustained injuries and their cloths torn?
“How can you attack a police officer in Nigeria who is armed and he would leave you and not use his gun on you? We challenge the CP to go to scene of the incident and see the bullet holes inside the court room. It is a shame that up till now, the CP has not visited the scene of the incident.
“We were in his command on Thursday and Friday to see him but he refused to see us.What happened in the court cannot happen at the police command or on any police office premises.”
Nosike said at the end of the three-day protest by the lawyers, the NBA branch would write to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Police Service Commission and human rights organisations to call for the immediate redeployment of the CP, the dismissal and prosecution of the DPO and his men for desecrating the court. – Punch
– Jul. 26, 2018 @ 9:05 GMT |
Tags: Assault: Magistrate registrar reports indicted police says Imo NBA chair
