An Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, has set aside a bench warrant of arrest issued against the former Governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi and two others.
The others are the Governorship Candidate of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections, Tonye Cole and the
Commissioner for Power in the Amaechi administration, Austine Wokocha.
The ruling followed an appeal filed by
Amaechi and the others seeking the setting side of the order by a lower court.
His appeal was considered by a panel of three
judges, of which two of them agreed that the order be set aside, while the
other, departed.
Justice Abdul-azeez Waziri, who read the
ruling that was prepared by the presiding Judge of the Court, Joseph Ikyegh,
said the order by the lower court was made in defiance of the Court of Appeal.
He read that the order of arrest was given
when there was already an application before the Appeal Court by Amaechi
challenging the service of information on him pursuant to Section 313 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Law in the state.
Reacting to the ruling, lawyer to Amaechi,
Achinike Wobodo said a lower court was supposed to have respected the hierarchy
of court placements in the nation’s judiciary.
On his part, one of the state government
lawyers, Alphansus Sibi, accepted the position of the Appeal Court in good
fate.
The warrant of arrest was issued last month
by a High Court in Port Harcourt in a criminal case instituted by the Rivers
State State Government.
The case involved the sell of public assets
including the state’s gas turbines by the Amaechi administration to Sahara
Energy, a company that is owned by Cole, a businessman turned politician.
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