…demands immediate release
By Ime Silas
Lagos-based lawyer cum rights activist, Inibehe Effiong, Esq. has lambasted the factional National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Julius Abure, his brother, and others he described as ‘thugs’ over a physical assault on one Ms. Precious Onuche, a.k.a Mama P.
Also condemned by the fierce lawyer is the Edo State Police Command for arresting Precious, a good governance advocate after she was reportedly assaulted by her attackers at the airport.
Describing the actions of the police as ‘macabre dance’, Inibehe in statement posted on his social media handles said “The decision of the Edo State Police Command to detain a good governance advocate, Ms. Precious Onuche, popularly known as Mama P, after she survived a vicious physical assault unleashed on her by criminal elements and thugs, following her encounter with Mr. Julius Abure at the airport is condemnable and utterly disgraceful.
By choosing to target the victim of a violent attack perpetuated by thugs, Nigerians have been forced to deal yet again, with another cowardly and unprofessional action by the Nigeria Police Force.
The Edo State Police Command should move beyond this travesty and macabre dance, and immediately release Mama P. She has not committed any offence known to law”.
While absolving Ms. Precious of any wrongdoing, Inibehe Effiong maintained that it’s within the rights of any citizen as provided for by the country’s constitution, to question the actions of politically exposed person.
He continued “Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) guarantees every person the right to freedom of expression. Mama Pee was only exercising her right to free speech when she questioned Julius Abure about his questionable political activities.
There is no law in Nigeria that shields a politically exposed person from being heckled, yelled at, or questioned by an aggrieved citizens in public spaces.
Every enlightened person knows that such non-violent acts of protestation is a regular occurrence in civilized countries. We have been seeing Presidents, Kings, and Prime Ministers across the world being held accountable through heckling.
President Trump, despite his disposition towards heckling, has faced protesters in public spaces who heckled regularly at him”.
On the genesis of the incidence, the Rights lawyer stressed that after carefully studying the originating video, Mama P had not broken any known law, and therefore called for the arrest of Mr Julius Abure. He also urged the nation’s Aviation Minister to investigate the airport officials on their involvement in the saga.
“I have carefully watched the videos of Mama P’s interaction and encounter with Julius Abure.
The following facts are apparent on the face of the video evidence:
Mama P did not assault or touch Julius Abure in any manner. She did not disrupt the flight. She did not spit on him. She did not drag him off the plane. She also did not prevent Julius Abure from boarding the flight or from departing the Benin Airport when the Max Air flight landed from Abuja.
She stood few meters away from Abure.
“All that she did was to ask him if he was not Julius Abure, and that he was the one frustrating Nigerians. She did not go beyond verbal protestations. She wasn’t even screaming at him.
Based on the available evidence, nothing remotely amounts to a crime in the conduct of Mama P.
“The fact that the thugs were summoned to waylaid her upon landing in Benin shows that the assault on her was premeditated.
It is scandalous that airport officials and security personnel at the airport stood by, and allowed the thugs to attack Mama P.
The Minister of Aviation should cause an investigation to be carried out on the role of the airport security personnel in this heinous crime.
“The fact that Mama P is currently under detention with a bloodied body, because she questioned Julius Abure about his role in the crisis in the Labour Party, speaks to the institutional rottenness and endless impunity in the police.
The Edo State Commissioner of Police should be bold enough to state publicly whether he is still a law enforcement officer, or a supporter of violent criminals.
Julius Abure, his brother, and the thugs who aided them should be immediately arrested and prosecuted for the violent attack on Mama P. Mama P should be freed without further delay”.
