The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Caucus in the House of Representatives has said that the Eboyin Governor, David Umahi whom they also described as ‘the Nanny Dictator of the state’ has overreached himself by the arrest and continous detention of the Eboyin state PDP Publicity secretary,Mr Nwoba Chika Nwoba
The caucus in a press statement issued by the leader of the caucus, honorable Kingsley Chinda, warned that it will continue to resist and challenge all the shenanigans thrown at PDP members in the courts and warned the Police specifically, to stop beign used for illegalities and withdraw all charges filed against the party’s scribe
‘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” Chinda said in the bulletin
He recalled that on 21st September 2021, the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ebonyi State , Mr Nwoba Chika Nwoba was arrested, ostensibly at the instigation of Governor David Umahi, who, on departing our great party, has continued to unleash a reign of terror on members of the Ebonyi State chapter of our party.
According to Chinda, 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.
“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. “
The caucus pointed that Mr. Nwoba has not committed any offence known to the Constitution of the Federal Republic 1999 (as amended) , adding that 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.
Chinda explained that Nigeria’s fledgling democracy is founded on respect for the Rule of Law, not the paired fists of the Lilliputian Governor whose “palm kneel was cracked 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.
He reminded the Governor that repression had an expiry date, just as it has consequences, cautioning that the governor’s addiction to constantly deploying repressive state power against members of our party, 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.
The Caucus, further warned that where they do not witness any improvement in the democratic practices in Ebonyi State within a reasonable time, they will deploy all legislative measures available both locally and internationally to safeguard the rights of the party members in Ebonyi State and ensure the enthronement of rule of law.