The
police on Thursday arraigned before a Port Harcourt Magistrate’s Court eight
persons suspected to be members and supporters of the Movement for the
Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of
Biafra, who protested in the Rivers State capital on Tuesday.
Those
arraigned, including a female, are Benedict Egine (55), Uchenna Emenike (25),
Chukwunonso Nwaolisa (36), Obilor Onyemachukwu (29), Ogbonna Godwin (31),
Wilson Ezeka (42) and Destiny Amuchechukwu, a female (19).
The
police had arraigned the 55-year-old Egine separately on the charges of
conspiracy and breach of the peace while the seven others were brought to court
and charged collectively.
One
of the charges against the accused persons was that they conspired to ‘levy war
against the Federal Government, thereby committing an offence punishable under
Section 37 (2) of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Law of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 2004’.
The
other charge against the suspects was the ‘unlawful demonstration, chanting of
war songs and the agitation for a Biafra nation, a development which caused
panic in the neighbourhood’.
The
offences are punishable under Section 37(2) of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Law
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004.
But
the Chief Magistrate, B. Jamabo, refused to hear the matter, as he said that
the court had no jurisdiction to handle the case.
Jamabo,
however, referred the matter to the Department of Public Prosecution for legal
advice, even as he directed that the suspects be remanded in prison custody
pending the outcome of the legal advice from the DPP.
He
subsequently adjourned the case till December 3, 2015.
It
will be recalled that 20 persons had also been arraigned after the first
protest by pro-Biafra supporters, who were arrested by security agents in Port
Harcourt a few weeks ago.
The
latest protest by the pro-Biafra groups, which took place on Tuesday, turned
violent as the protesters pulled down Nigerian flags and destroyed some
vehicles plying the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway.
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