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George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
Members of the Imo State House of Assembly have said that the controversial section 484 of administration of the Criminal Justice Law of the which has granted the Governor to detain anybody at his pleasure never passed through the state Assembly.
This is even as the main sponsor of the bill Hon. Frank Ugboma (PDP) who represents the Oguta State constituency revealed that the bill which was passed by the state Assembly and later assented to by Governor Hope Uzodimma in March 2020 has a total section of 372.
The people of the state have slammed the lawmakers at the weekend when section 484 of ACJL which has alleged granted the governor the powers under the ACJL to detain any person at his pleasure without court order went viral on the social media.
But the immediate past Deputy Speaker and member representing Mbaitoli state constituency, Hon. Okey Onyekanma insisted that obnoxious section 484 of ACJL 2020 never passed through state Assembly.
In a press statement signed personally by him , he said he was not privy to the clandestine insertion of some, obnoxious vexatious, and anti -democratic clauses to the Administration of Criminal Justice Law Amendment bill 2020 which purportedly passed by the Imo state House of Assembly and signed into law by Governor Hope Uzodimma.
The state which read in part stated : “My position is clear. The strange Section 484 which allows suspects to be detained at the pleasure of the governor is unjust and unfair. It also provides that a person must obtain a license before he or she is released. These stipulations were not in any shape or form part of the draft bill which was enacted by the Imo State House of Assembly, where I am an active and punctual member. The bill stated on “Order” in place other than “Prison or Mental Asylum and not at the pleasure of the Governor.
The injection of the toxic clauses into the ACJL is the height of absurdity. It intends to create a climate of terror in the state and make Imo a desert of totalitarianism in an oasis of democracy.
The obnoxious clauses have rendered the so-called law unacceptable. It cannot stand.
Adding, “I appeal to everybody to remain calm. As your representative, I have started liaising with other lawmakers who feel equally scandalized by this possible case of forgery to earnestly begin the process of repealing the rogue section which conflicts with democratic ethos.
Similarly, the Chief sponsor of the administration of Criminal Justice amendment bill Hon.Frank Ogboma in a statement at the weekend ,said that the insertion of the obnoxious section 484 in the administration of criminal justice law amendment bill 2020 had come as a rude shock to him.
According to him, “As the Chief Sponsor of the Bill and, for the avoidance of doubt, the Bill I presented had about a total of 372 Sections. How and where it was amended, recreated and reshaped into Section 484 and beyond remains a mystery and a legislative wonder of our time as what I presented and circulated to my colleagues during plenary, both in the First and Second readings did not contain such obnoxious and embarrassing Section 484. Neither was it deliberated in the House Committee of the whole. It indeed never existed in the House.
No one has been able to explain to the members of the 9th House how and at what stage the said Section 484 was inserted into the Bill. It smacks of an evil manipulation to throw Imo people into the dungeon”.
Continuing, “As a Lawyer, I have had cause to fight against such obnoxious laws and as an activist there is no way this section would have scaled through plenary in the 9th House which I am part of. All of us are already available victims of this obnoxious sections. Not even those who practiced this calculated affront on the Constitution are exempted.
This particular provision is a nullity ab- initio in view of the unambiguous provisions of sections 1(1),(3),4,5,6 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as Amended).
This was not the Bill I presented and sponsored. In the manuscripts that I received after each hearing and which I have today compared with that given to my colleagues, there is no hand of Esau. This has informed my view and I have today forwarded a Bill for the immediate amendment of those offensive and draconian sections.” he fumed.
