Uzodimma/Madumere battle: Governor’s aides detain court officials over N1.9bn judgement against Imo

• Court President shuts down NICN, Owerri division

• Some people plan to cripple our finances –State govt

Some officials of Imo state government on Friday allegedly assaulted no fewer than four officials of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Owerri, Imo state. The incident occurred following a recent Garnishee order made by the Owerri Judicial Division of NICN to the tune of N1.9 billion being accruable benefit to the former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere.  Thugs believed to be working with the state government attacked about four officials of the court at Bank Road and abducted them.

The officials of the Imo State government, allegedly led by the Special Adviser to Governor Uzodimma on Special Duties, Mr. Chinasa Nwaneri, accompanied by a team of Police operatives ordered the operation.

The four officials abducted and eventually dumped in Police cell were Chima Emeka Ndukwe, Akoma Jeremiah, Ikedi Amadi and Nze Moses, all senior staff of the National Industrial Court, Owerri, who were taken away around 2:30 pm that Friday while on official duty in the official vehicle of the NICN. Our correspondent gathered that it was about 10pm same day that the four officials whose whereabouts was initially not known, were found at the Anti–kidnapping unit of the Imo State Police Command and eventually taken on bail same night. The Investigating Police Officer, one Inspector Chidi Igwe, apparently took the cue from government to manhandle NICN staffs at the Anti-kidnapping unit.

The Presiding Judge of the NICN, Owerri Division, Justice Ibrahim Suleiman Galadima, has since gone underground for fear of his life, following the assault on his workers and the reported withdrawal of his Police orderly. Reacting to the action, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Owerri branch, through its Secretary, Chinedu Agu, in a press release, regretted that, “rather than challenge same judgment in the Court of Appeal, the Imo State Government, in a desperate hurry, obtained a Court Order from a High Court sitting in Owerri (a court of coordinate jurisdiction) restraining a bank from obeying the judgment of the National Industrial Court, Owerri.

“In a manner most brutish and saddening, reminiscent of the Stone Age, the said Mr. Chinasa Nwaneri, armed with the Order of the High Court, led a legion of heavily armed policemen and fierce-looking thugs to unseal the Bank, and in the process brutalized and arrested the said Court Officials, who while on official duty, stopped by the Bank to inquire the reason for the heavy presence of security men and thugs in a Bank sealed by a subsisting Order of their court.

“We therefore register our collective disaffection with the role played by the State Government, its agents, and the Court, who assumed appellate jurisdiction over a judgment delivered by another court of coordinate jurisdiction, in a manner that ridicules the sacred tenet of  court hierarchy, disparages our judicial system, mocks the principles of rule of law and scorns our noble legal profession.”

While reliable sources told our correspondent that the NICN obtained Police security from Zone 9 Command Headquarters, Umuahia for the enforcement of the Garnishee order after the Imo State command refused to grant them such request, the Imo State government in its statement hinged their arrest of the court officials on the supposition that the policemen used by the NICN were on illegal operation.

In a press statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Oguike Nwachukwu, the Commissioner for Information, Chief Declan Emelumba said that, “unfolding facts indicate that the police that sealed the bank offices in Owerri on Wednesday were on an illegal operation”. He added: “Already four staffers of the Industrial Court who were suspected to have led the police to carry out the illegal operations have been arrested by the police in Owerri.

“The suspects have been asked to disclose from where they got the police they took to the bank as both Zone 9 and the state police command have denied sending any of their officers for such an assignment.” According to Emelumba: “From the emerging facts, it was clear that the former Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, was in concert with some opposition politicians to sabotage the state’s economy and ultimately embarrass Governor Hope Uzodinma, who had pledged to pay workers and pensioners promptly at the end of every month.”

The Commissioner maintained that the Garnishee order which led to the sealing of branches of the Bank in the state, was a calculated attempt to cripple the economy of the state by denying workers their pay for the month of May, 2022. Consequently, and following the attack on staff of the NICN, the President of National Industrial Court of Nigeria has issued a directive shutting down the Owerri division of the National Industrial Court till further notice for the safety of the lives of his staff.

A memo to that effect, signed by the Chief Registrar of the court, Olurotimi Williams Daudu, Esq. read as follows: “I have been directed by the Hon. President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Hon Justice B. B. Kanyip, PhD, to inform you that the Owerri Judicial Division of the Court has been closed down till further notice. “Consequently, all the staff of the judicial division are hereby directed to stay away from work until further notice.” (Sunday Telegraph: Text, excluding headline)