Court Orders Senator Igbeke's Arrest - A Magistrate Court in Abuja has issued a warrant for the arrest of the Senator representing, Anambra North Senatorial District, Alphonsus Uba Igbeke. The order which was made in Abuja requested all police officers to arrest Igbeke anywhere he was found. A copy of the warrant which was obtained by our correspondent said Igbeke stood charged with forgery. Sequel to the warrant, the police had told a Federal High Court in Abuja that Igbeke forged the documents he presented to court to obtain the judgment that declared him the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the April 9, National Assembly elections.

Igbeke had filed an application for the enforcement of his rights at a Federal High Court in Abuja when police wrote to the Clerk of the National Assembly asking for Igbeke to be released for questioning.

In a counter-affidavit filed by the police in reaction to Igbeke's application for enforcement of his rights, the police said that they were prepared to charge him with forgery.

In order to stop the police from arresting him, Igbeke had filed the application under the Fundamental Enforcement Procedure Rules where he claimed that the police were hunting him because they wanted to stop him from campaigning for the April 9 elections.

The police filed a counter-affidavit deposed to by Mr. Jonah Wutu, a police officer attached to the Legal/Prosecution Section of the Force Criminal Investigation Department.

In the counter-affidavit, a copy of which was obtained from the Federal High Court the police described how Igbeke altered the result of the PDP primaries for selection of the candidate to fly the party's flag for the Anambra North Senatorial District.

According to the police, the said primary was won by Mr. John Emeka junior who polled 1,156 votes as against Igbeke's in another suit filed by Igbeke at the Federal High Court in Abuja, he claimed that he was the one who scored the highest votes of 1,156 from the primary conducted by Benji Udeozor-led PDP executive committee in Anambra State.

The police however found as a fact that it was Emeka who won the said primaries.

Relying on the alleged false depositions by Ugbeke, Justice Abdul Kafarati gave judgment in his favour.

When Emeka got winds of the claims by Ugbeke, he wrote a complaint to the police. After carrying out a preliminary investigation, the police said they discovered that Ugbeke allegedly committed forgery.

The police consequently wrote to the Clerk of the National Assembly to release Igbeke to them for questioning. Rather than appear before the police, the Senator went to court to file an application for enforcement of his rights. He joined the Inspector General of Police as a respondent.

Replying, the police filed a 22-papragraph counter affidavit. Some of the dispositions by the police are weighty and painted Senator Igbeke as an alleged criminal running from the long arm of the law.

The counter affidavit read: "I Jonah Wutu, male, adult, Christian, Nigeria citizen and a police officer attached to the Legal/Prosecution Section, FCID, Area 11, Louis

Edet House, Force Headquarters, Abuja, doth hereby make oath and state as follows:

"That the applicant (Igbeke) along with one John Emeka Junior and four others contested the PDP primary elections into Anambra North Senatorial District on January 10, 2011;

"That the applicant failed woefully having scored only 74 votes against John Emeka Junior's 1,156 votes.

"That INEC official monitored the primaries and wrote a report which confirmed John Emeka junior won the primaries;

"That the said John Emeka was duly returned as the PDP candidate to contest the April elections in his presence and knowledge;

"That the applicant (Igbeke) was not satisfied with his failure at the polls;

"He proceeded to alter the figures by allocating higher figures to himself and lesser to the John Emeka Junior i.e. 1,173 and 156 respectively;

"That armed with these fraudulent figures, Applicant proceeded to the Federal High Court.

"We started investigation and got facts about the accused as a sitting senator.

"We then wrote the Clerk of the National assembly to produce him for investigation. We were expecting him to come and state what he knows about the forgery, but to our dismay, we got this civil process.

"He is running away from the long arm of the law. He presented the documents in question to the court by way of affidavit.

"We are ready to charge him to court with forgery under relevant laws including Section 118 of the Electoral Act."

Meanwhile, in a release sent to Daily Champion, Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo raised alarm that he had uncovered Part of the statement read: "It has come to our knowledge that the Nigeria Police Force has been discreetly mounting a surveillance to arrest our client, Senator Igbeke. We understand that an invitation (which Senator Igbeke has not received) was sent to the Clerk of the National Assembly inviting him to Police Headquarters.

"These actions of the Nigeria Police Force are in complete violation of the Rule of Law, an existing court order and the fundamental rights of Senator Igbeke for the following reasons: Senator Igbeke contested and won the PDP primaries for the Anambra North Senatorial district, defeating five other opponents, including one John Emeka;

"The PDP then duly forwarded the result of the primary elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC);

"However, when Senator Igbeke got wind that his name was to be substituted with that of John Emeka, he exercised his constitutional right by filing a pre-election suit at the Federal High Court (Suit No.: FHC/ABJ.CS/189/2011: Igbeke V. INEC & others) in which he challenged the move to substitute him. He tendered in court, through affidavit evidence, the result of the PDP primary election in Anambra State;

"The Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Hon. Justice Kafarati, in a well-considered judgment delivered on March 17, 2011, declared Senator Igbeke as the authentic P.D.P candidate for Anambra North Senatorial District. Dissatisfied, John Emeka appealed against the said decision. That Appeal is still pending".

Mebrim Uchechukwu

Daily Champion/17/05/2011