Tonye Cole, an APC candidate for governor in Rivers State, has filed a petition with the electoral petition tribunal to contest the results of the March 18 governorship election after protesting the detention of three of his attorneys.
Cole said that the operatives also detained five party support staff members.
It was learned that the attorneys, who were members of Senior Advocate of Nigeria Tuduru Ede’s chambers, were detained on Friday night at a Port Harcourt hotel where they were staying.
After leading the party executive to the INEC’s headquarters to protest the organization’s reluctance to disclose certified true copies of election-related papers, which would have helped the party continue to the tribunal, Cole was arrested 48 hours later.
Cole confirmed the arrest to news reporters in Port Harcourt on Saturday. Cole called the occurrence an unpleasant awakening and said that the agents stole the attorneys’ documents.
He described the situation as follows: “I was awakened up this morning with a panicked phone call about 7 a.m. that our attorneys and support workers had been detained and taken away from the hotel where they were housed.
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“When I hurried to the hotel, they had already left.”
I was informed that they were transported to the Ogbunabali Intelligence and Surveillance Section (Port Harcourt).
I went there with the party agent and our senior solicitor, and we were detained for more than an hour before learning that they had been sent to the state criminal investigation department.
“I have never heard of attorneys being detained while drafting a petition with a deadline. The removal of all of our proof is much more concerning.
“Now, when we get that proof back, can we believe it? Before they were dragged away, the attorneys were finishing up their brief. Today, the opponent is well aware of our stance. I’m shocked,” he said.
He affirmed that the arrest will be overturned but stated, “I’m staying here today until they’re released.”
“They are actual attorneys working on their petitions. Because our attorneys were detained, we are unable to go to the tribunal and explain that we were unable to make the deadline, the legislator complained.
Cole noted that Rivers State is a unique situation and declared, “The cops cannot continue to be exploited.”
“I think the cops are just trying to ruin us. We already have proof that on election day, electoral materials were stolen with the help of the police. He begged the Inspector General of Police to summon them to order.
Lead attorney for the APC and its candidates, Tuduru Ede, SAN, also spoke out and said it was unusual for the police to permit themselves to be utilised.
Ede said everything was an effort to undermine the petitions. All of the EC8 documents and copies of the election results that we had collected from the agents were taken away.
“We demand the release of everyone who has been detained.” “We think the hotel employees undermined our stay there,” he claimed.
