A Federal High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, has told the police that it was not proper to arrest any suspect before investigation. Justice I.N. Uwaigbo, who presided on a matter of fundamental human rights abuse brought before the court by a lawyer, Mr. Ndubuisi Onyeakpa, asked the police to stop harassing him, but to continue their investigation. In his ruling, the Judge upheld the submissions of Onyeakpa’s lawyer, Mr. Zokas Aniazoka that there was no suppression of material facts in the matter as argued by the police. Onyeakpa had, in a petition, alleged that no fewer than 20 police men scaled the wall of his house and invaded his family at about 2am last year for the purpose of arresting him, adding that his alleged offence was that he was the lawyer for a section of his community on a land matter. He maintained that as a lawyer, he had the legal right to defend any person that sought his services and asked the court to stop the police from harassing and intimidating him. The counsel to the police had argued that any person invited by the police was obliged by law to report for investigation, adding that that was what the police did in the case of Onyeakpa.
Credit: Vanguard
