The invasion of Rivers High Court complex

ON Friday, May 11, thugs invaded the Rivers State High Court complex in Port Harcourt and blocked all the entrances to the complex for hours. They prevented judicial workers, judges, litigants and lawyers from gaining access to their offices and courtrooms to carry out their duties and businesses. In the event, sporadic shooting rocked the entire court premises. The library and documentation offices were vandalised while windows, doors and cars parked within the court premises were destroyed. The action was to prevent the state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt from taking action on the request by some disenfranchised members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) asking the court to grant an injunction restraining the party from conducting the local government chairmanship congress the following Saturday.

Although activities in the court premises were paralysed for several hours, Justice Chiwendu Nwogu eventually considered the case and delivered judgment on the motion on notice when the melee subsided. He barred the APC from going on with the congress and adjourned the case till June 26 for hearing. The Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Emma Aguma, described the incident at the state High Court as an attempt to close down the state judiciary. We agree with him and call on stakeholders to ensure that agents of lawlessness do not have their way in destroying democratic institutions.

We think that the event is a manifestation of the threats that currently confront democracy in Nigeria today. It portends a grave danger to the 2019 elections.  It is particularly worrisome that the event occurred in the presence of security agencies who failed to either protect the court premises or bring the situation under control. We join the two chambers of the National Assembly and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in condemning the action and call on the security agencies to arrest and prosecute those involved in the criminal acts without further delay. This desecration of the temple of justice must not be allowed to go unpunished.

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This assault on a vital democratic institution like the judiciary must not be condoned by any means. It is a direct attack on the foundation of the rule of law, an infringement of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and an alarm signal on the deepening fragility of the Nigerian state.  This brazen act of lawlessness reportedly perpetrated in the presence of the police, especially those of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), without any action on the part of the law-enforcement personnel to arrest the situation, suggests that the agencies have been compromised. This politicisation of the police, if allowed to continue, will lead to anarchy. It must therefore be curtailed by all means.

The ideal of impartiality of law enforcement must be protected at all times.  Security agencies must be seen to be impartial for peace and stability to reign in the land. Any further politicisation of law enforcement amounts to crass irresponsibility on the part of the political leadership and is capable of sounding the death knell for Nigeria’s fragile statehood. The ugly trend must stop.

ON Friday, May 11, thugs invaded the Rivers State High Court complex in Port Harcourt and blocked all the entrances to the complex for hours. They prevented judicial workers, judges, litigants and lawyers from gaining access to their offices and courtrooms to carry out their duties and businesses. In the event, sporadic shooting rocked the entire court premises. The library and documentation offices were vandalised while windows, doors and cars parked within the court premises were destroyed. The action was to prevent the state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt from taking action on the request by some disenfranchised members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) asking the court to grant an injunction restraining the party from conducting the local government chairmanship congress the following Saturday.

Although activities in the court premises were paralysed for several hours, Justice Chiwendu Nwogu eventually considered the case and delivered judgment on the motion on notice when the melee subsided. He barred the APC from going on with the congress and adjourned the case till June 26 for hearing. The Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Emma Aguma, described the incident at the state High Court as an attempt to close down the state judiciary. We agree with him and call on stakeholders to ensure that agents of lawlessness do not have their way in destroying democratic institutions.

We think that the event is a manifestation of the threats that currently confront democracy in Nigeria today. It portends a grave danger to the 2019 elections.  It is particularly worrisome that the event occurred in the presence of security agencies who failed to either protect the court premises or bring the situation under control. We join the two chambers of the National Assembly and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in condemning the action and call on the security agencies to arrest and prosecute those involved in the criminal acts without further delay. This desecration of the temple of justice must not be allowed to go unpunished.

This assault on a vital democratic institution like the judiciary must not be condoned by any means. It is a direct attack on the foundation of the rule of law, an infringement of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and an alarm signal on the deepening fragility of the Nigerian state.  This brazen act of lawlessness reportedly perpetrated in the presence of the police, especially those of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), without any action on the part of the law-enforcement personnel to arrest the situation, suggests that the agencies have been compromised. This politicisation of the police, if allowed to continue, will lead to anarchy. It must therefore be curtailed by all means.

The ideal of impartiality of law enforcement must be protected at all times.  Security agencies must be seen to be impartial for peace and stability to reign in the land. Any further politicisation of law enforcement amounts to crass irresponsibility on the part of the political leadership and is capable of sounding the death knell for Nigeria’s fragile statehood. The ugly trend must stop.