By Anya C. Anya
A senior Advocate of Nigerian Barr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has pleaded with the President of the federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari to direct for the immediate release Mr Gabriel Emperor Ogbonna who has been facing condemnable incarceration in the custody of the Department of State Security Service since March 24th 2020.
Emperor Ogbonna is a legal practitioner and a human rights activist who is based in Aba, investigation revealed that he was adopted in commado style and whisked away on 24th March 2020 from his office while on duty by operatives of DSS and armed policemen on accusation of publishing falsehood against Dr Okezie Ikpeazu who is the Executive Governor of Abia state that the governor swore to an oath at the ancient Harashima.
After the arrest was made, Emperor Ogbonna was arraigned before the Magistrate’s Court and remanded in custody, from there He was later charged before the Federal High Court, Umuahia and was admitted to bail by the said court.Mr Emperor Ogbonna was said to have perfected the conditions of his bail and was released from the Correctional Centre on April 28, 2020, but he was re- arrested immediately by the Abia State Director of DSS from where He has now been transferred to Abuja.
But Barr Ebun-Olu while condemning the continuous incaceration of Emperor Ogbonna in the press release posited that” it is proper and desirable for law enforcement agencies to do their best to investigate, detect and prosecute crimes, for the good of society, but once the court has intervened however, by way of granting bail to a defendant, then such an order must be respected and not be subverted through devious means or by subterfuge. There is no other way to describe the conduct of the DSS in transferring Mr. Ogbonna to Abuja whilst his case is still pending before the Court than an arrant violation of the order of court granting him bail. Members of the executive arm of government must willingly submit themselves to the authority of the Courts as demanded by the Constitution and not seek to denigrate that hallowed institution.”
According to the Senior Advocate of Nigerian is it not pathetic that this is happening in the country at a time when “The President has just signed Executive Order No.10, wherein he granted autonomy to the judiciary. It is thus improper to claim to grant autonomy to the judiciary with one hand and then take it away with another through willful disobedience of Court orders. I call upon the President to call the Director of DSS to order, in order to avoid another scenario of what happened in the case of Omoyele Sowore. Mr. Ogbonna’s attention is needed by his pregnant wife, he also has a precarious medical history, having suffered gunshot wounds from an attempted assassination upon his life in the past. With the health challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic, this is not the time to embark upon indiscriminate arrest and detention of citizens”
He pleaded with President Buhari to intervene because “The DSS must obey the order of court granting bail to Mr. Ogbonna and if there be any further allegations against him, he should be charged to court immediately in line with the requirement of the Constitution. Surely two wrongs cannot make anything right.”
Attempt by us to reach the Abia State Director of DSS on phone proved abortive but Whether or not the president will intervene in this issue is a story for another day.
