The House of Representatives on Thursday asked the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, to investigate the September 22 invasion of an Ado-Ekiti High Court by “thugs.”
In a resolution in Abuja, the House called for the arrest of the suspects, said to have assaulted some judges and damaged court properties.
The House specifically condemned the “barbaric action of the thugs in the unprecedented assault on high courts and the persons of Justices Isaac Ogunyemi and John Adeleye.”
The motion on the attacks was moved by a member from Ekiti State, Mr. Ifeoluwa Arowosoge, who informed the House that Justices Ogunyemi and Adeleye were assaulted on September 22 and September 25, respectively.
The lawmaker, a member of the All Progressives Congress, said the attacks took place as security agents reportedly watched without taking any action.
In the September 25 attack, he told the House that “other judicial officers, lawyers, litigants as well as journalists were equally intimidated by the thugs.”
Arowosoge recalled that the alleged failure of security personnel to act, led to the escalation of the crisis.
He added that in the process, a former Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in the state, Chief Omolafe Aderiye, was killed a week later “and property worth millions of naira destroyed by the rampaging thugs.”
The lawmaker stated that the invasion started as hearing in a case filed in May 2014 by a pressure group, Ekiti-11, was in progress.
The resolution partly read, “The House condemns, in its entirety, the barbaric action of the thugs in the unprecedented assault on high courts and the persons of Justices Isaac Ogunyemi and John Adeleke.
“Urge the IGP to order a thorough investigation into the incident with a view to arresting and prosecuting all those involved in the invasion of the courts, the assault on the judges and the murder of Chief Omolafe Aderiye.”
However, the motion did not pass without some protest.
A Peoples Democratic Party member from Kogi State, Mr. Sunday Karimi, had opposed the motion on the grounds that it had been “overtaken by events.”
According to Karimi, the issues have been resolved while the Ekiti State judiciary is now fully back to work.
“The motion is not necessary because all these issues he raised have been overtaken by events,” Karimi insisted.
But, his protest was overruled at the session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha.
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