ENUGU—ABOUT 500 supporters of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) were allegedly arrested yesterday by the police in Enugu following a fracas that ensued at the Court of Appeal in Enugu after supporters of the party clashed with the police over a disagreement on sitting arrangement in the court. Contrary to APGA's claim, police said they arrested 15 supporters of APGA. The APGA supporters were in court to hear the case between the party’s gubernatorial candidate in last election, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, Governor Chimaroke Nnamani.
The Election Appeal Tribunal sitting in the court had fixed hearing on the appeal filed by Agballah against the verdict of the Justice Abdu Aboki-led Enugu State Election Petition Tribunal, which had in April last year upheld the election of Nnamani for yesterday. Trouble started when policemen asked supporters of Agballah who besieged the court hall as early as 8 am yesterday to vacate some of their seats for supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who arrived the court later and could not find any vacant seat.
They reportedly turned down the police request insisting that the seats were not reserved for anybody, a situation that provoked a police crackdown on the APGA supporters. In the ensuing melee, the police fired canisters of teargas that sent lawyers, litigants, and supporters from both parties scampering for safety. Angered by the development, the supporters hauled stones at the police and tried to prevent them from taking away their members. The police, however, succeeded in driving them out of the court premises and took several of them away, after which the court resumed hearing of the matter and reserving judgement for an undisclosed date.
Reacting to the incident, National Chairman of APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie said it was unfortunate that the police could descend in such manner against innocent supporters of his party who had come to exercise their constitutional right to participate as witnesses in a court case.
According to him, “APGA supporters came in thousands numbering over 5,000 to give solidarity to their governorship candidate. The police in Enugu who saw them first demanded that few seats be given to PDP supporters. APGA supporters resisted because they were early in court and there is no law in Nigeria that says a late comer should be given a seat at the court, after all APGA supporters who came late were outside the court. “Then the police and PDP supporters decided to use teargas to disrupt the peace at the court.
As I am talking to you over 500 supporters of APGA have been arrested by the police for offence they did not commit. I want to recall that PDP supporters threatened the Ejembi Eko panel and members ran to Abuja for their safety. The President of the Appeal Court then relocated the panel to Abuja citing insecurity of the judges but based on pressure from the PDP government that panel was dissolved and a new one set up, which resumed sitting recently in Enugu.” Okorie condemned the action of the police and demanded the immediate release of those arrested, adding that APGA would not mind if judgement in the case between Agballah and Nnamani was delivered outside Enugu since the state had proved “very unsafe for the dispensation of justice.” When contacted the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Shehu Adamu said he was yet to be briefed.
