TheCable

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the immediate release of Ikenga Ugochinyere, the spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), from police detention.

Acting on a resolution passed by the house of representatives, Ugochinyere was arrested and detained by the police on Thursday.

This was after a federal high court in Abuja barred the Department of State Services (DSS) from arresting him.

The CUPP spokesman had accused the leadership of the house of collecting $10 million bribe from the Bill Gates Foundation to pass the infectious disease control bill.

In a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesman, the party decried the arrest of Ugochinyere in defiance of a subsisting court order, saying it was a direct affront to the judiciary and violation of his rights.

The party said arresting and detaining the CUPP spokesman in defiance of the court order cannot be justified by any means.

“In demanding his release, our party is deeply worried by reports that the CUPP spokesperson is being detained under very dehumanising condition where he is also allegedly being tortured,” it read.

“The PDP insists that, without prejudice to the issues between the leadership of the House of Representatives and the CUPP, for which the two parties were before a court, resorting to using the police to arrest and detain the CUPP spokesperson, in defiance of the orders of the court, is completely unacceptable, unlawful and cannot be justified under any guise whatsoever.

“Our party charges the Presiding Officers of the APC-led House of Representatives to note that Nigeria is a democratic state, governed by law which creates no space for the whims and caprices of dictatorial, oppressive and vindictive individuals, who have no regard for rules.”

The opposition party, therefore, asked the APC leaders in the house of representatives to respect the sanctity of the judiciary and the provisions of the law by following due process in dealing with issues, particularly those guaranteed by the constitution.

It also called on the inspector-general of police to wade into the matter, and insulate the police from “the political manipulation of the APC leadership” by immediately ordering the release of the CUPP spokesperson in keeping with the demands of the tenets of democracy and rule of law.