Reps PDP caucus condemns arrest of Ebonyi party Publicity Secretary

By Christiana Ekpa

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives has said the arrest of the Ebonyi State Party Publicity Secretary, Nwoba Chika Nwoba, which it claimed was ostensibly at the instigation of Governor David Umahi, is uncalled for, even as it stated that the governor has continued to unleash a reign of terror on members of the State chapter of the party since he left the PDP.

The Leader of the PDP House Caucus, Rep. Kingsley Chinda, who disclosed this in a statement he made available to journàlists in Abuja, said Nwoba was detained at the Afikpo Federal Prison, following an order of remand, issued by an Abakaliki Magistrate Court.

It said rather intriguingly, the same Magistrate Court declined jurisdiction to hear the trumped up charges filed against the party’s State Publicity Secretary, thus leaving him in judicial limbo.

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 kneel 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.

“We wish to remind Governor Umahi that repression has an expiry date, just as it has consequences. His addiction to constantly deploying repressive state power against members of our party, while using the instrumentality of the Ebonyi State Cybercrimes (Prohibition) Law and the police, remains not only an affront to civil liberties, but an insidious attempt to stifle free and open debate that is at the heart of our democracy.

“If the Nanny Dictator is still in doubt, let’s make it abundantly clear to him that we shall, as a party, continue to resist whatever shenanigans he throws at our members, including challenging his nanny acts and actions in the court of law. What we won’t do is to go low like him and plumb the depth of dirt, while gnawing at the dust of infamy.

“We therefore call on the Nigeria Police Force to stop doing the bidding of the Nanny Dictator of Ebonyi State and to immediately withdraw the charges filed against Mr.Nwoba Chika Nwoba.

“As a Caucus, where we donot witness any improvement in the democratic practices in Ebonyi State within a reasonable time, we deploy all legislative measures available to us both locally and internationally to safeguard the rights of our party members in Ebonyi State and ensure the enthronement of rule of law”, he said.