The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Mr Tonye Cole, has criticized the arrest of three of his lawyers, filing proceedings at the election tribunal to challenge the March 18 Governorship election.
He alleged that five of his party staff who are in support of his Governorship bid were also arrested by the operatives.
According to him his lawyers, were arrested on Friday night, at a hotel where they lodged in Port Harcourt. He made this known while speaking with Journalists in Portharcourt.
Narrating the incident, he said,
“I was woken up this morning with a frantic call about 7am, that our lawyers and support staff have been arrested and taken away from the hotel where they lodged.
“By the time I rushed down to the hotel, they were already gone.
“I was told they were taken to the Intelligence and Surveillance Unit in Ogbunabali (Port Harcourt).
‘I and the party agent and our lead counsel went there, and we were kept for over an hour, we didn’t see them, only to be told that they’ve been transferred to state criminal investigation department.
“I have never heard of lawyers preparing a petition that is time-bound, being arrested. More worrying is that all our evidence was taken away.
“Now, can we trust that evidence when we get it back? The lawyers were writing their brief before they were taken away. Now, the opposition knows exactly what we want to argue. I am in shock,”.
“These are lawyers legitimately preparing their petitions. We cannot go to the Tribunal and tell them we didn’t meet the date because our lawyers were arrested,” the politician lamented.
“I feel that the police are being used to scuttle us. We already have evidence of the police being used in the hijack of electoral materials on election day. The Inspector General of Police must call them to order”.