January 23, (THEWILL) – A Senior Advocate Of Nigeria, Mba Ukweni, has faulted the Cross River State Police Command for declaring Peter Akpanke wanted.
Ukweni SAN, heads the legal team of Akpanke, a PDP candidate, contesting February elections for the Obudu, Bekwarra & Obanliku Federal Constituency.
His reaction follows a press release signed by the Cross River State Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo, dated January 23, 2023, which declared Peter Akpanke wanted.
She said the police is acting on a court order issued by Hon. Justice Blessing Ekpo of the Cross River State High Court, which declared the PDP candidate wanted in connection with the suspected murder of one Emmanuel Martin, a police Inspector.
Martin, she alleged was shot and killed on May 25, 2022, in Obudu, Cross River North, during the House of Representatives primary of the PDP.
However, faulting the release, Mba Ukweni SAN, said, “It is politically motivated and positioned to distract my client as he prepares for next month’s elections.”
Giving more details about the case, the learned senior advocate said, “Our client is not running away from justice, they have not served him with the papers and we appeared under protest that the court has no jurisdiction and the venue of trial is not the proper venue and they should serve him the papers.
“The judge ordered the lawyer I sent that day, handed him the papers and asked him to look for him and serve him.
“The lawyer said I am not a bailiff and cannot do the work of a bailiff and returned the papers.
“So if she decides to issue bench order, the person who did the killing was arrested by young men in Obudu and handed over to the police in Ogoja Area Command.
“They went and brought an innocent person and forced the innocent person (that is the first defendant) to say that it is Akpanke that sent him.
“That man has not met Akpanke before and police has taken his statement, we recorded part of the video where he was being interrogated by the police in Ogoja.
“We have applied for the extra Judicial statement to show the court that the person who did the killing has been arrested by the police, the police statement is very clear on who did the murder.
“I don’t know why the police will be so unfair to themselves, they were present, the Area Commander was there on that day, they saw when the shooting was done and the governor decided to ask the commissioner of police to release the murderer and then pursue innocent persons for political considerations.
“So it will be most unfair, and as a lawyer it will impinge on my sense of justice to sit back and see an innocent person standing trial while the people who committed the crime are walking down the street free because the governor is behind them.
“So the governor should be made to produce the person whom the police had arrested and committed the murder to go and stand his trial and leave the innocent people”, the Senior Advocate said.
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THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
