Some Gombe lawyers Tuesday expressed concerns over what they described as the state government’s alleged plan to use state actors to persecute perceived enemies.
Addressing journalists, Barr Henry Nwoye who spoke on behalf of the lawyers said despite the exparte order obtained from the Federal High Court by one of his clients, Senator Danjuma Goje, representing Gombe Central, there has been alleged undue pressure by the state government to coerce the plaintiff to report to the state.
According to him, the order was to restrain the state from coercing Goje, to come to the state, stressing that government should respect the position of the court.
Nwoye said, “This thing that happened to Distinguished Senator Goje on 5th of November 2021; he specifically wrote to the Inspector General of Police, against a certain individual over the conduct that was meted out to him.
“However, after his writing, the state governor personally wrote to the Inspector General against him and some other individuals who took two other petitions to the police officer on different issues.
“Our fear in this circumstance is further heightened by the fact that with a certain provision in Gombe state administration of criminal justice system law they could just go to a magistrate court to obtain an ex parte order, use it to harass people, putting them in prison against the principle of fair hearing, and all the cardinal principles of justice.”
The lawyer in their petition had urged Governor Yahaya, the state Commissioner of Justice and all other parties to respect the court order, to avoid anarchy and lawlessness in the state.
When contacted, the state Commissioner of Justice, Barrister Zubairu Muhammad Umar, debunked the allegations, saying the government respects the rule of law and promotes the criminal justice system in the state.
He said, “I have done nothing to intimidate anybody. Anybody can sit down at the comfort of their room and invite the press and say whatever they want to say, and as a matter of fact, no one has laid any allegation against us.
“If there is an order by the Federal High Court in favour of Senator Danjuma Goje, has anybody done anything to violate that order? Nobody has done that.”
