Pro-Amaechi lawmakers to take Lloyd’s case to ICJ

Mr. Chidi Lloyd
| credits: kevindjakpor.blogspot.com

Twenty-six members of the Rivers State House of Assembly supporting Governor Rotimi Amaechi on Sunday said they would take the continued detention of their Majority Leader, Mr. Chidi Lloyd, to the International Court of Justice.

Lloyd had being in custody since last Tuesday after honouring police summons at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

The police declared the Majority Leader wanted following his involvement in the fracas that took place in the State House of Assembly on July 9, 2013.

Speaking on behalf of pro-Amaechi lawmakers, the Assembly Deputy Speaker, Mr. Leyii Kwanee, said since “justice eluded” them in Nigeria, they would seek the enforcement of the rights of the Majority Leader overseas.

Kwanee, who spoke with journalists in Port Harcourt on Sunday, noted that they were already assembling a team of lawyers, who would challenge the human rights abuses against Lloyd.

He also said the Speaker of the House, Mr. Otelemaba Amachree, currently in Namibia for the conference of Commonwealth Parliamentarians, would draw the attention of other foreign lawmakers to the development in Rivers.

He said, “We may seek justice towards ensuring that Chidi Lloyd’s rights are protected and his cause is also ventilated, probably in the International Court of Justice, if it comes to that. The Speaker will also draw the attention of the Commonwealth to the ugly development.

“We need to ensure that democracy is respected in Rivers State. Lloyd reported himself to the Force Headquarters, Abuja on Tuesday.

“As I speak with you now, he is being held up at the State CID by the same police authorities under the leadership of Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu. Lloyd was blindfolded, tortured and teargas was sprayed all over him.

“We have been refused access to him. Information reaching us indicates that he is going blind, occasioned by the teargas in his eyes. Medical help has also been refused him.”

He added that they had taken the case to the church to seek God’s intervention.

He described Mbu as a “major” problem in the crisis in the state, insisting that there was the need to respect the decision of the National Assembly to immediately redeploy the police chief.

Earlier, the lawmakers, in a statement, had accused Mbu of torturing and blindfolding Lloyd like a criminal.

They said, “As a House, we are indeed saddened to note that the Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly was blindfolded, tear gassed and handcuffed.”

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party in the state has accused Amaechi, of plotting to scuttle the prosecution of Lloyd.

The PDP state Chairman, Mr. Felix Obuah, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media, Mr. Jerry Needam, alleged that the governor had directed the state Attorney-General, Mr. Worgu Boms, to “frustrate” the prosecution of the Majority Leader.

Obuah said, “Governor Amaechi, who has never cared to visit Mr. Michael Chinda in the hospital or offer any assistance or condolence to him or his family, is hell-bent on frustrating the prosecution of Lloyd through the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Worgu Boms. This shows that the governor is comfortable with the life-threatening harm that Lloyd caused Chinda.”

However, the governor’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Tony Okocha, dismissed Obuah’s claim, describing it as lacking in logic.

Okocha also described the allegation as laughable.

According to him, it is wrong for the state PDP to have accused Amaechi of obstructing justice when the Majority Leader is still in police custody with no attempt to arraign him in court.

Also, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. David Iyofor, described as ridiculous the position of the state PDP on the detention of the Majority Leader.

Iyofo said, “Lloyd has not been charged to court yet. So, the alleged giving of a supposed direction on a matter that has not even arisen is a most ridiculous speculation aimed at prejudicing or influencing the exercise of the powers of the Attorney-General, should Chidi Lloyd be eventually charged to court.”

CULLED FROM: PUNCH NEWSPAPERS

July 29, 2013 by Chukwudi Akasike and Sodiq Oyeleke 

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Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE

Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner