The Nigerian Bar Association, Warri branch, on Friday expressed outrage over the invasion of a High Court in Warri, Delta State, by some suspected sponsored thugs and hoodlums.
Suspected thugs had invaded the Warri High Court 4, Delta State, on Thursday and disrupted proceedings of a lawsuit filed by one of the Itsekiri princes challenging Prince Emiko’s selection as possible 21st Olu of Warri.
The presiding judge of the court, Hon Justice V. O. Agboje, narrowly escaped being lynched by the invaders who were chanting war songs in protest of the lawsuit brought by Mr. Bernard Emiko, younger brother to the immediate past Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Ikenwoli.
Multiple reports say proceedings in the suit on the Itsekiri kingship tussle were abruptly disrupted when the thugs invaded the High Court premises around 10.15a.m. on Thursday.
The lawyer to the complainant in the case, Chief E.L. Akpofure (SAN), was addressing the court when the leader of the thugs (name withheld) rushed in and started shouting and dancing.
The judge and other lawyers, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Efe Akpofure, were said to have narrowly escaped the hoodlums’ attacks.
It was learnt that the situation became uncontrollable with the presence of women and youths armed with green leaves and singing war songs round the hallow premises of the court.
Akpofure and his team of lawyers were said to have been trapped inside the court for some hours as they could not come out for fear of being harmed by thugs.
It was learnt that the judge escaped through the back door, while Akpofure and other senior lawyers fled the scene when the atmosphere became tense and chaotic.
The Nigerian Bar Association, Warri branch, in a press statement, called on the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, Delta State and the Director of State Security Services to immediately set up a team of investigators, to unmask the perpetrators of the reprehensible act.
Chief Emmanuel Uti, and Joseph A. Omonoseh, chairman and secretary respectively, of the Warri branch of the association, urged security agencies to set in motion measures to nip in the bud this ugly trend by providing adequate security in and around the courts premises in Delta State, to prevent a recurrence of the ugly trend.
“The Nigerian Bar Association, Warri branch, condemns in totality this unprovoked attack and barbaric behaviour by the hoodlums/thugs and therefore call on the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, Delta State and the Director of State Security Services to immediately set up a team of investigators, to unmask the perpetrators of this reprehensible act.
“We advise the players in the ongoing succession tussle to sheathe their swords and allow peace and the law to take its full course, as we cannot afford to see our peaceful and loving Warri Kingdom engulfed by the flames of crisis,” the statement reads.