Terrorism charges against lawyer detained for "criticizing Governor Ben Ayade", withdrawn by Police
Posted by FN Editor | 4 years ago | 1,262 times
The terrorism charges against Joseph Odok, a lawyer and a known critic of Cross River governor, Ben Ayade has been withdrawn by the Nigerian Police.
In a motion filed before the Federal High Court in Calabar by the Prosecution Counsel Dennis Tarhemba on Tuesday October 29, the police said they are withdrawing the terrorism charges against Odok because its headquarters in Abuja wants the case transferred to them for further investigation.
However the Justice Simon Amobeda who commented on the move to withdraw the terrorism charges against Mr Odok who is also charged with cybercrime for allegedly accusing the chief of staff to Mr Ayade of being a cultist, stated that only the attorney general of the federation has such powers. It is expected the court will rule on the motion on November 6.
Premium Times reported that Ayade’s spokesperson, Christian Ita denied the governor’s involvement in the arrest and detention of Mr Odok.
“It’s wrong for people to describe as the governor’s critic, anyone arrested by the police. The governor does not know anything about his arrest, the police are in a better position to tell you why they have arrested him,” Mr Ita said.
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