Court orders arrest of naval commander for misconduct

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the Commanding Officer, Nigerian Navy Pathfinder, Rumuolumeni, Commodore Sam Bora, following his failure to appear in court despite being summoned as well as disobeying the order to release a suspect from custody.

Justice Hilary Oshoma, who issued the warrant on Tuesday, also ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and his men to effect the arrest of the naval commander and ensure that he appears before the court on December 3, 2020, to show course why he should not be disciplined.

According to the counsel for the plaintiff, Christian Woke, trouble started when naval operatives arrested his client, Ledumbari Nafiri, on August 21, 2020, and took away some of his property.

Woke added that the navy also denied his client access to his lawyer and defied a valid court order to release him.

He said, “My client was wrongly arrested in a commando style when the naval officers invaded his house, took away his property and held him incommunicado. It was only after we approached the court that the court ordered that we should have access to him.

“When the court finally ordered that he should be released, immediately the said order was served on Mr Sam J. Bora, the Commanding Officer of Navy Pathfinder, Rumuolumini, Port Harcourt, he refused to obey the court order and rather transferred our client to Abuja; the same order was served on the Abuja naval office and they still refused to release him.”

Woke hailed the decision of the court, adding that the bench warrant was issued against the senior naval officer because he failed to honour the court’s summons thrice.  (The Punch)