Marshal noted that the Nigeria Police Force had become mere puppets in the hands of “powerful individuals” whose dictates the officers follow.
Abubakar Marshal, the lawyer who was arrested after filing a lawsuit on behalf of human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore against businessman and former lawmaker, Ned Nwoko, has taken a swipe at the Nigeria Police Force.
Marshal noted that the Nigeria Police Force had become mere puppets in the hands of “powerful individuals” whose dictates the officers follow.
According to him, the police officers who arrested him and Sowore had not followed the right, legal procedures as they were blindfolded by the bribes they were paid by the so-called billionaire.
Marshal said the police officers were following a plot mapped out by Nwoko and his cronies which was to either arrest Sowore or himself and keep them in custody for the weekend.
He further stated, while in court, he observed Ned Nwoko's allies giving instructions to court officials in order to pervert the course of justice.
He said, “They had a script, it was either to get their hands on Omoyele Sowore or on Marshal Abubakar; since it was a Friday, the idea was to see how to further demoralise us but we've sworn that we'll never give up our humanity to these people. These are persons who have at one time or the other felt they can use the instrument of state to oppress, demean and fight us for asking them to do the right thing.
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“We knew they were going to go that way so I wasn't disturbed. I told them that there's no price that was too big for me to pay for the advancement of rule of law.
“My name is Marshal Abubakar, I'm a legal practitioner and a human rights activist, I practice law in Abuja. On 24th of February, we were at the court of Appeal in Abuja in the case of Omoyele Sowore, AAC and others, shortly after the court proceedings, I left to the Federal High Court for other cases that were heard in the court that day and shortly after, we received a call that the notorious SARS had swooped on Omoyele Sowore at the Court of Appeal and effected his arrest.
“Knowing fully well who the notorious SARS operatives are, we rushed down but luckily, Inibehe Effiong, another human rights lawyer and comrade was in town that day, we went to the SARS Premises to find out what was happening. Expectedly when we got to the place, they were violent, aggressive and ready for a fight. We told them we're gentlemen of the bar that we're there to carry out legal functions for our client detained in their Abattoir premises, after much ado, we were allowed in.
“I saw Sowore and we were informed that there was a petition against him by one Ned Nwoko who wrote a petition against Sowore over some defamatory publications that SaharaReporters had made.
“We told them there that firstly, SaharaReporters is not the same as Sowore irrespective of the role he plays with his establishment of SaharaReporters and that journalistic work is not a crime in Nigeria; that if it's a case of defamation, why won't Ned, who is presumably a lawyer, not approach the court of law to sue for defamation? If he had a case against SaharaReporters or Sowore, he should approach the court and seek legal redress.
“They didn't want to release Sowore but we had an understanding towards late in the evening and they said no problem so I was asked to leave a copy of my passport and sign that I knew Sowore. Sowore made it clear that he had not committed any crime, we left that day, there were no communications.
“This brings us to the issue of what the police has been reduced into, the police is now a mere puppet, a mere tool in the hands of some powerful individuals in Nigeria who have them do their biddings. No call was placed to me, or even Sowore, no date for return until after some time, they swooped in on my address. After some time, on Friday which is what they do normally if they have a problem with you, they asked me to produce Sowore without prior notice.
“This brings me to further questions I told the area court judge. Area Court judges are Sharia judges, they practice what is called Islamic Personal law for persons who subscribe to their deals.
”What business has an Area Court with someone who was accused of committing an infraction under the Cyber Crime Act of 2015 which clearly invests authority in the Federal High Court?
“As a matter of fact, the police has no business arresting anybody who breaches his bail bond, what the police or any of the agencies can do is to invite the person to forfeit the sum he has undertaken to forfeit in his bond upon failure of the surety to produce the principal.
”None of these happened because there was a clear script, get Sowore or Marshal and hold them for the weekend; these are infractions but of course, we've been emboldening our resolve to fight all of these injustices that the jackass and their cronies in government and the “big men” in Nigeria feel they can use the instrument of state and use the police, especially the police which is now a ready tool in the hand of these persons.
“Recently, I saw a picture of the entire FCT Police Command from their CP to the rest going to the home of Ned Nwoko for a group photograph. Even in court that day, I saw people close to Nwoko coming to court to share money to court officials.
“It has got to that low that these persons just feel because they are close to security agencies who were employed and paid with taxpayers' monies to protect Nigerians, these same persons are now being used to oppress Nigerians, they were paid to defend. These are some of the problems we've identified.
“The Area Court judge has no power to remand a person accused of failing to produce a person he stood surety for. Like the NDA directly noted, the Kabusa area court has become notorious for perpetrating all forms of illegalities.
“A lot of persons are being kept, are being remanded, the court just assumed jurisdiction over matters. Our resolve is steadfast.”