Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the arrest and continuous detention of Publicity Secretary of the Ebonyi state chapter of the party, Mr. Chika Nwoba.
Nwoba was reportedly arrested, a move believed to have been at the instigation of the state governor, David Umahi.
The House of Representatives’ PDP Caucus through its leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda in a statement on Wednesday however described Umahi, to have overreached himself, accusing the governor who he sad “on departing our great party (PDP), has continued to unleash a reign of terror on members of the Ebonyi State chapter of our party”.
The lawmaker disclosed in the statement that Mr Nwoba was detained at the Afikpo Federal Prison, following an order of remand issued by an Abakaliki Magistrate Court.
“Rather intriguingly, the same Magistrate Court declined jurisdiction to hear the trumped up charges filed against our party’s State Publicity Secretary, thus leaving him in judicial limbo,” he said.
He said, “While we are hopeful that the Ebonyi State High Court, sitting in Abakaliki, which has already heard his application for bail, would do justice and grant him constitutional reprieve which the right to bail guarantees, it is our fervent view that the terror unleashed on our members will not deter them from raising the banner of opposition to the inadequacies of the Nanny Dictator of the South East.
“In fact, it will steel the resolve of our members, including our detained State Publicity Secretary, Mr Nwoba, to continue to speak truth to naked power, which Governor Umahi sadly exemplifies, and in a manner that is consistent with the tradition of our great party, PDP.
“Mr. Nwoba has not committed any offence known to the Constitution of the Federal Republic 1999 (as amended) and it is no surprise therefore that the Magistrate Court rightly declined jurisdiction to entertain the trumped up charges filed before it but choose to detain the accused while rejecting the charge.
“Our country’s fledgling democracy is founded on respect for the Rule of Law, not the paired fists of the Lilliputian Governor whose “palm kernel was kracked by a benevolent spirit” but choose to display needless power by doing the unthinkable: arrest a citizen whose only offence is that he exercised his right to free speech by calling public attention to the malfeasance of Governor Umahi and his lackeys.”
