Following the continued detention of Emperor Ogbonna, a coalition of human rights groups have jointly called on all stakeholders in the justice sector and well-meaning Nigerians to rise against the sheer disregard for the rule of law by the DSS.
In a statement, the coalition, involving Citizens’ Gavel, SERAP, Paradigm Initiatives, Civic Media Lab, CODE and Civic Hive said on March the 24 2020, a team of law enforcement officers stormed the office of Ogbonna and arrested him.
Ogbonna was charged with offences related and punishable under the Cyber Crime Act 2015; which rested on a Facebook post by the defendant and said to be allegedly critical of the Abia state government.
The defendant was remanded in prison pending the issuance of the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) advice. His lawyers, however, filed the relevant application for bail which was granted despite vehement oppositions.
They said his Lawyer, Martin Ladu was suddenly waylaid as he was exiting the court premises on March 28, 2020.
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His car was blocked by three government-owned SUVs. The occupants of the vehicles came out and interrogated him as to the whereabouts of the defendant.
Ladu, informed them that the defendant was and still in prison because the bail conditions have not been met. His car was thoroughly ransacked by the security detail despite his protests.
But after Ogbonna’s bail process was perfected, a discreet message was sent to the prison for his release but the officials of the Department of State Security got wind of it and came to re-arrest Ogbonna.
After much resistance, he was re-arrested on April 28 2020; right there and then immediately he was released on bail. He was taken to the offices of the DSS and has not been seen since then.
Till date, Ogbonna has not been charged to court on any new charge and his existing bail has been rudely impeded by officials of the DSS, according to the coalition.
Also, it became public knowledge that Emperor Ogbonna was discreetly moved to Abuja by the DSS after a long period of stalling his defense team’s request for his immediate release.
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The Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State in a ruling ordered the immediate release or arraignment of Ogbonna from the custody of the DSS on June 29 2020. The court also restrained the DSS from re-arresting him. The court further awarded the sum of N1.5 million against the DSS as damages.
Despite calls to the DSS on the need to obey the court order for the immediate release of Ogbonna as he was still being detained, “to our dismay, information got to us that the DSS has declared that they do not recognize the judgment of a Federal High Court and thus they will continue to hold him in detention,” they said.
“We wish to state that the actions and inactions of the DSS are a major slap on the face of the rule of law and the powers of the court. It also amounts to a continuous and gross breach of Ogbonna’s right to liberty which is protected and guaranteed under Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“We cannot fold our arms and continue to condone this show of shame where the orders of the court are practically worthless and ineffective. It is a steaming volcano waiting to explode and plunge us all into anarchy. We have to resist this. We have to collectively uphold the dignity and sanctity of our courts of law and its orders,” they said.
