Explosion, fire at Rivers high courts •No explosion in Ahoada court –Police

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IT was a day of fire in the Rivers State judiciary,  as two high court divisions; Ahoada and Okehi, were hit by an explosion and fire, leaving destructions behind.
The Ahoada High Court, where Justice Charles N. Wali sits, was allegedly hit by an explosion late Sunday, leaving the offices of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) destroyed.
Although the state police command denied the report of a blast in the court, it, however, confirmed a device suspected to be an explosive, which had since been evacuated by units of the command.
It will be recalled that the Ahoada High Court, precisely the parking lot of Justice Wali, was attacked with an explosive last December, an incident still being investigated by security operatives in the state.
The court was supposed to be receiving arguments for the vacation of the order on a member of the state House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, which restrained him from parading himself as speaker of the  state House of Assembly.
But responding to the explosion report at the court, the spokesman of the state police command, Ahmed Muhammed, said there was no explosion in Ahoada, adding that rather, a yet-to-be detonated explosive device was discovered and evacuated before it could go off.
“A good Samaritan sighted something within the premises of the Ahoada High Court, which he reasonably suspected to be a dynamite.
“He instantly alerted our men at the Ahoada division, upon which the men at the division quickly ran down and cordoned off the entire place and evacuated all the people inside the premises of the court.
“I believe by now, the anti-bomb squad of the command has reached that place. They would have removed that suspected explosive device and destroyed it. It had not exploded.
“There was no explosion before then, I was the one who heard the information and informed the DPO and immediately he got there, he confirmed to me that there was something like dynamite, but there was nothing like explosion,” Muhammed said.
At the Okehi High Court in Etche Local Government area of the state, presided over by Justice Christian Kiri Dappa-Aduo, an early morning inferno gutted the offices of the judge on Monday, destroying everything inside.
A community source, who volunteered information on the incident, said the fire started early in the morning, adding that before the people nearby could do anything to save the structure, the fire had spread round, destroying everything in its path.
The sitting area of the judge, all court papers and seats within the court building were destroyed, even as some tires and match sticks were seen within the wreck left of the court building.
“We came out early this morning to see people gathered in front of the court building, the place in flames. People ran round to save the situation, but before you could do anything, the fire had taken the whole place over”, the source said.
Police spokesman, Muhammed, responding to the fire at the Okehi court, said “it was not an explosion but a fire incident that gutted office of the judge only. However, the police obtained some clues that will aid us in investigating the incident.”
Meanwhile, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the reported bombing of Ahoada High Court.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the state chairman on media, Jerry Needam, pointed the finger at the state government for the incident.
“The case that temporarily restrained Honourable Evans Bipi from parading as speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, was to come up today at the Ahoada High Court.
“Our team of lawyers, made up of over 10 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) from Abuja and Lagos, arrived at the court this morning to argue for the vacation of the interim order and saw the senseless and barbaric destruction of the court,” the statement said.
Reacting, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in a statement issued by its state spokesman, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, decried the situation in the state, which it said was already transforming Rivers into another terrorists haven.
“It is very unfortunate and sad to note that Ahoada East High Court premises was bombed and set ablaze this morning by agents of undemocratic elements.
“It is on record that the state chapter of the PDP, sponsored by Chief Nyesom Wike, the Supervising Minister of Education, has, over the time, condemned this ruling of the Ahoada East High Court, because it threw a spanner in its plot to use the rebel lawmakers led by Bipi to impeach Governor Rotimi Amaechi in a House of 32 members.
“The record exposing the agenda of this misguided group for Rivers State and its people as violence prone was exhibited few days ago, when security agencies in Rivers State caught six youths with various sophisticated and dangerous arms at Ogu, the home town of Senator Sekibo and Honourable Bipi.
“The suspects have been linked to Senator George Sekibo and Honourable Bipi, both chieftains of the state chapter of the PDP led by Chief Wike, whose determination to destabilise the administration of Governor Amaechi is well known to all and sundry,” the statement said.
But Bipi refuted the report linking him and Senator Sekibo to suspects arrested on suspicion of firearms.
Bipi, in a statement, said none of the six persons arrested “are my supporters or that of the senator. I have no dealing or link with any of them as alleged by the report.”
He added that “it is noteworthy that none of those arrested made any confessional statement linking me or the senator to them.”
Bipi added that the report which linked him and Senator Sekibo to the suspects were calculated attempts by the Rivers State government and the opposition APC in the state to damage his political career and tarnish his reputation as speaker of the state assembly.
“I also believe it is an attempt by the Rivers government to divert attention from the murder case involving Chidi Lloyd,” he said.
Speaking on the attack at the courts, the member representing Omuma/Etche federal constituency, Honourable Ogbonna Nwuke, described the development as the handiwork of enemies of democracy.
Nwuke said the incident raised a lot of questions, while charging the law enforcement agencies to apprehend the faceless persons.
“This is the worst thing that should happen in this country. The law enforcement agencies should protect the interest of the common man, which the judicial process represents,” he said.
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