Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa
Suspected political thugs last Wednesday invaded a Bayelsa State High Court and disrupted proceedings into the hearing of a suit on the disputed ward, local government and state congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The thugs numbering over 30, chased the lawyers and Judge away from the court proceedings while an official of the court, the claimant, Alex Blackson, and his brother, Osom Blackson, were injured during the invasion.
However, the presiding Judge, Justice Nayai Aganaba, escaped unhurt after he was stoned with plastic bottles by the hoodlums but was taken to safety by his police orderly.
It was gathered that most of the lawyers in court were also chased out, while those that came with the claimant were brutalised.
It was gathered that the hoodlums may have been provoked by the alleged insistence of the Presiding Judge, Justice Aganaba to hear the suit filed by Alex Blackson seeking the order of the court to set aside the disputed congresses of the APC held last year.
The state Chairman of the party, Dennis Otiotio, who was also in the court and escaped by the whiskers, condemned what he described as the brazen and crude invasion of the court by the sponsored thugs.
Otiotio, however, distanced members of APC from the fracas at the court, alleging that those involved were suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters who were in the courtroom and hanging around the premises.
He expressed confidence in the ability of the judiciary to adjudicate in matters concerning the party, and urged the police to fish out those behind the invasion of the court.
“It’s with great displeasure and pain that I am formally condemning the brazen and crude invasion of the court room of High Court 3 in Yenagoa, on April 13, 2022, when Justice N. Aganaba was presiding over a matter which our party and I are co-defendants.
“As the state chairman of the Bayelsa State APC, I know that it is not the practice of our party to revert to disorderly and unlawful tactics, as we believe in the rule of law and sanctity of our courts. I, therefore, condemn in the strongest terms the events of April 13, 2022, and call on the security agencies to delve into the matter and take appropriate actions that will punish the culprits and create difference for the good of our society.”
It was also gathered that there was heavy sporadic shooting at the state secretariat of the APC following the attempts by armed policemen to arrest some chieftains of the party over alleged involvement in the court invasion, where two persons were reportedly arrested.
Counsel to the claimant, P. J. Fawei, who confirmed the incident, described the invasion as pathetic and a show of disrespect to the sanctity of the court.
Another chieftain of the party, Hon. Sunday Frank Oputu, condemned the attack, describing it as barbaric and an open show of disrespect to the symbol of the law.
