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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Chief Magistrates’ Court in Port Harcourt has remanded the lawmaker representing Etche/Omuma federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Ephraim Nwuzi, to the Nigerian Correctional Centre.
Nwuzi, who is also the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives candidate for Etche/Omuma constituency, was arraigned by the Nigeria Police Force for inciting violence in a trending video. Chief Magistrate, Amadi O. Amadi-Nna, ruled that the suspect should be remanded in Nigerian Correctional Centre for 10 days pending the outcome of investigation by the police.
Speaking to newsmen after the court session, counsel for the federal lawmaker, Emenike Ebete, said the offences preferred against his client were insufficient to warrant a remand. He said: “The offences preferred against him include treasonable felony, conspiracy, inciting violence, promotion of communal crisis, conspiracy and that they are investigating him and that they wanted the court to remand him in the Correctional Centre pending investigations.
“We have, also, submitted to the court that the offences disclosed in the particulars and affidavit attached were not sufficient enough for him to be remanded. The court, in its wisdom, held that the offences are previous and that he should be remanded in prison custody until the 3rd of March, 2023, pending when a charge will be preferred against him by the state.”
It was gathered that the lawmaker was arrested yesterday morning in his house in Chokocho, Etche, when policemen with armoured vehicles broke his fence and broke into his house to arrest him. He was allegedly seen in a video, saying that residents of Rivers State should be shot during the general election coming up on February 25, 2023, in the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Grace Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police (SP), in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the invitation was extended to the federal lawmaker by the Supervising Assistant Inspector-General of Police for the Elections, Abutu Yaro.
