Orji Uzo Kalu @62
Happy birthday to Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the most suitable next president of Nigeria — By Emeka Ugwuonye I chose the occasion... Read More
Orji Uzo Kalu @62
Happy birthday to Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the most suitable next president of Nigeria — By Emeka Ugwuonye I chose the occasion... Read More
UNDERSTANDING THE CASE OF EMEKA UGWUONYE VS THE NIGERIAN POLICE (FCT) COMMAND CONTD. EXHIBITS TO PART 2:
ANNEX 1 SUMMARY PROFILE OF Ephraim Emeka Ugwuonye, Esquire Ephraim Emeka Ugwuonye was born and raised in Enugu State, Nigeria. He trained... Read More
This Is What Emeka Ugwuonye Wants
This question was explained to me by one of Emeka's lawyers.
Emeka wants what most normal people want in life - to be a good father to his children, a good son to his mother, a good family man, a good professional who will contribute positively to his society and humanity at large. He has great taste in everything, be it wines, music, cars, friends, etc.
But the question is asked in respect of his current fight against the Nigerian police that landed him in prison without trial.
Why didn't Emeka just walk away and avoid their trouble? Why didn't he return to America? Or why didn't he just mind his business?. He had the knowledge and skill to milk the country like many others and make millions and enjoy his life? Why didn't he do that? So, what does the man want?
I found an answer to these questions in a post Emeka Ugwuonye made few days before his arrest. He wrote, as if he knew that we would ask this question after his arrest:
"I cannot accept to be quiet in a country where there is so much injustice, where the police abuse the rights of citizens as if they are animals or slaves. I have to try to stop that by at least criticizing them. I don't want to succumb to fear. I want to enjoy in Nigeria the rights I enjoyed in the US - the right to say my mind, the right to criticize even the president, the right to go anywhere I want. The right to be free of fear. And I want my people to have these rights too. For that reason, I will not leave Nigeria and I will speak against injustices by the police. I want to be an advocate of due process".
Emeka understood that for him to try to change the society, he has to make some sacrifices. He sees his current challenges as the sacrifice he has to make. He accepted it in good fate and he is as resolute as ever. He will triumph in the end. According to him, if I succeed in setting people free, I shall go to my grave a happy man".
I think that's what Emeka Ugwuonye wants.
Updates On Emeka Ugwuonye Court Appearance Today
The court did not seat. The reason given was that the judge was indisposed. The only further detail provided was that the she had some speech and voice problem that prevented her from seating.
This was the 3rd consecutive time in three consecutive months that the court could not seat.
This must have come to you as a surprise and may have left some of you angry and disappointed. But we, in the DPA administration, do not feel disappointed as such. We had previously assessed the situation, generally and specifically, and we did not have high expectations of the Nigerian justice system. Otherwise, what did you think that DPA had been lamenting all this while? We saw this happening to ordinary people in Nigeria. We saw justice failing the people so badly. In fact, we created DPA because we knew that this sort of thing has been happening, and we wanted to stop it.
The impeachment hearing in the US, which involved an entire congressional committee acting as judges, many witnesses located in different parts of the world, complex facts involving many privileged communications, many subpoenas, thousands of depositions, etc, will be completed before a Nigerian court presided over by one judge can seat for four hours on a simple case. So, there is something deeply wrong with the Nigerian courts.
The case of Emeka Ugwuonye is therefore a laboratory experimentation with the problems that gave rise to DPA. So if this could happen to Emeka Ugwuonye, a Harvard trained Nigerian-American lawyer, the leader of a Human Right organization, what will they do to you, if you were in disagreement with them? They may probably have killed you and your family by now. So, the only thing you should draw out of this is that you need to take DPA seriously. You need to understand that you are not safe in this country. You need to register with DPA. You need to take human rights seriously. You need to support DPA, because supporting DPA means supporting yourself.
We were not surprised by the fact that the court did not seat today. We suspected that it would happen. That was why we never bothered to mobilize our members to attend the trial because we did not want them to leave their work and come for a trial that would not hold. In fact, if you noticed, we did not announce today's trial until few hours before the trial. The reason was because we did not want to bring out our members.
Despite our misgivings we are prepared to face the Mr. Bala Ciroma's men in court, The Founder arrived court by 9:45am, escorted by by over ten warders and prison security officials. He was dressed in white brocade with President Buhari-style cap. He was in great spirit, looking gallant, and beaming with smiles as he alighted from the prison vehicle and sighted some of our members he recognized. Yes, despite the no-notice, some of our members still managed to come. Our leader was happy to meet them.
Communicating through his lawyers, the Founder of DPA urged our members to remain strong and focused. Rather than cry or despair, they should see all that happened as vindication of DPA. It all proved us right. We were right to have said that there is intolerable level of injustice in Nigeria and that the people of this country needed to come together to tackle it. This is yet another vindication. We just witnessed the revelation about Abattoir. We have witnessed the continued police atrocities in Nigeria. We are seeing the positive effects of our advocacy in the recent evacuation of Abattoir detainees, which saved the lives of many detainees. We are proud of various DPA interventions and advocacies which have saved lives in Nigeria.
The Founder also thanked the DPA Admin crew, particularly the Rambo team, for the great work they have done in his absence. He sent his love to all his daughters in DPA and all the members.
Thank you.
DPA can expose the police: look at this
Emeka Ugwuonye has been on a mission, forced upon him by circumstance. When they took him to Abattoir, he saw unimaginable impunity. When they took him Garki police station, saw more. DPA has kept a good record of how the police can abuse their prosecutorial authority.
A SUMMARY OF ABUSE OF PROSECUTORIAL POWERS THROUGH THE CASES
The Nigerian Police, FCT Command, headed by Mr. Bala Ciroma, filed the following charges against Emeka Ugwuonye and grossly abused their powers.
(1) In April 2018, the police filed a criminal defamation charge against Emeka at the Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone 2. Court No. 2. Complainant is David Aiyedegbon. The theory of the offense was that Emeka made a post on Facebook accusing David of involvement in the disappearance of Chacha. Note that David already sued Emeka civilly since 2016, but was doing badly in the civil case. Also, note that in April 2018, the police had not arrested anyone in connection with the disappearance of Chacha. So, they really could not have ruled out anybody.
On the day of arraignment, the police prosecutor, one Mr. Adama vigorously opposed bail. But the court granted Emeka bail over the opposition of the police. Outside the courtroom, Mr. Adama warned Emeka's counsel, Mr. Tosin Ajaomo, that if Emeka continued criticizing the police over Chacha's case the police would charge him with the murder of Chacha. Note that in April of 2018, the police officially continued to deny DPA's claim that Chacha was killed in 2016.
The police were disappointed that Emeka was granted bail in Court No. 2.
(2) On July 6, 2018, while Emeka attended hearing at Court No. 2, the police arrested him at the court house. They detained him in Abattoir detention center till July 9, 2018 when he was charged to Court at Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone 2, Court No. 9. Again David was the Complainant. The theory of the offense was that he, Emeka, misled the police when he posted on Facebook that the confessions of the two men arrested and paraded by the police as killers of Chacha were probably not voluntary.
The police vehemently opposed bail. But the Magistrate granted Emeka bail over the opposition of the police. Emeka met the terms of bail the same day. But the police prosecutor refused to verify the surety as directed by court. It took 7 days detention of Emeka in Keffi Prison before the Magistrate varied the bail order for the purpose of removing the requirement of verification by the police prosecutor.
(3) On October 16, 2018, while Emeka was attending the trial in Court 2, the police arrested him again and detained him. On October 18, 2018, while in the custody of the police, Mr. James Idachaba, a senior police officer, was heard discussing with other police officers concerning how to ensure that Emeka would be remanded by any court. The discussion was which of the Magistrates would agree to deny Emeka bail in the next charge. The officers mentioned names of various Magistrates. They settled on one Magistrate at Court 3, Wuse Zone 6. Mr. Idachaba made a phone call, presumably to the Magistrate. They discussed Emeka Ugwuonye and the need to remand him. After the call, Mr. Idachaba ordered Emeka into a police van and they took him to Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone 6, Court 3. Mr. Idachaba went into the office of the Magistrate and came out after about 30 minutes.
When the case was called and after arraignment, the police opposed bail. The Magistrate played to an agreed script by calling for a written bail application. He adjourned for a week to hear the bail. On October 25, 2018, he adjourned again to October 26, 2018 to rule on the bail application. The Magistrate granted bail.
(4) On November 14, 2018, while he was attending the hearing at Magistrate Court 9, at Wuse Zone 2, the police withdrew the case in that Court. The Magistrate made a profound remark while striking out the case. The Magistrate stated on record that the police were desperate and that their action amounted to persecution of Emeka.
(5) As Emeka was stepping out of Magistrate Court 9, on November 14, 2018, the police served two criminal summonses on him. One contained 10 count charges, which was a duplication of the charges filed in the three Magistrate Courts (Court 2 and 9, Wuse Zone 2 and Court 3, Wuse Zone 6). The second summons was for a murder and armed robbery charge. The theory of the offense was that Emeka conspired with Jekwu and Emmanuel Adogah and robbed and killed Chacha with a machete. Emeka was not arrested this time.
(6) On November 26, 2018 while Emeka was attending trial at Magistrate Court 2, the police arrested him again and took him to Abattoir Detention center where he was held until December 14, 2018 when he was arraigned before Justice Modupe Osho-Adeyemi of the FCT High Court, Gudu. The judge remanded Emeka in Kuje Prison.
(7) In February 2019, Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi denied Emeka bail to the delight of Mr. Idachaba who led the prosecution team. Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi admitted later that she decided the bail application without reading the proof of evidence. This is instructive because one of the grounds for the bail application was that there was no connection between the charges and the proof of evidence.
(8) The police prosecution and the complainant sponsored people to come to Court to photograph Emeka in the dock and use his pictures for smear campaign against him in the social media.
(9) After Emeka was denied bail and remanded, the prosecution still went to Magistrate Courts 2 and 6 to ask for bench warrant because Emeka was not in Court.
(10) When the Magistrates refused to issue bench warrant, given that Emeka was in the prison custody, the prosecution applied to withdraw the charges in Courts 2 and 6. Their aim then was to obtain a bench warrant which could be used to justify further arrests if Emeka was to get bail at the High Court.
The records of these proceedings are available. There is no doubt that the Commissioner of Police and Mr. James Idachaba have thoroughly abused the prosecutorial powers of the police, with the indulgence and probable collusion of some of the judicial officers.
Prepared by DPA
DPA RAMBO ON HOT SEAT: Ask your question now .
DPA usually gives opportunity for people to ask questions or report issues that concern them to a special team of experts called DPA RAMBO that volunteered to help.
As an advice, search on the DPA Facebook wall for any question and you might be lucky that an answer has already been provided for you.
Note: You can reach Rambo team via Rambo Facebook inbox and Rambo twitter handle too.
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EMEKA UGWUONYE: OUTCOME OF COURT TODAY.
Very simple! The court did not sit.
That is the simple way lawyers describe what happened. But in a more transparent manner of speaking, the judge who fixed today for trial, failed to show up. She found something more important than the liberty of those whose freedom depend on a timely conclusion of the trial.
Today, it affected Emeka Ugwuonye, but all this while, it has been affecting thousands of Nigerians. DPA recognized this problem and had been aiming to tackle it as a cultural and structural problem, facing Nigeria. Like other things that have happened since his unlawful arrest and detention, Emeka experiences the problems he had suspected existed in the administration of justice in Nigeria. That experience increases our resolve to seek reforms and changes in the system.
Our members met him in court today and we talked about this. He was not disappointed. He said that he knew these things happen and was well prepared for them. We also spoke to the lawyers who strongly believe he will be out on bail soon.
The Founder sent his regards to all of you.
EMEKA UGWUONYE: OUTCOME OF COURT TODAY.
Very simple! The court did not sit.
That is the simple way lawyers describe what happened. But in a more transparent manner of speaking, the judge who fixed today for trial, failed to show up. She found something more important than the liberty of those whose freedom depend on a timely conclusion of the trial.
Today, it affected Emeka Ugwuonye, but all this while, it has been affecting thousands of Nigerians. DPA recognized this problem and had been aiming to tackle it as a cultural and structural problem, facing Nigeria. Like other things that have happened since his unlawful arrest and detention, Emeka experiences the problems he had suspected existed in the administration of justice in Nigeria. That experience increases our resolve to seek reforms and changes in the system.
Our members met him in court today and we talked about this. He was not disappointed. He said that he knew these things happen and was well prepared for them. We also spoke to the lawyers who strongly believe he will be out on bail soon.
The Founder sent his regards to all of you.