Security
operatives whisked away the former Director General of the Nigerian
Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi,
from the Federal High Court, Ikoyi on Monday.
One of the counsel to the embattled former NIMASA boss, Wilson Ajuwa, made this known to PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview.
Mr. Ajuwa said he feared for Mr. Akpobolokemi’s life.
The
legal practitioner said the ordeal of the former NIMASA boss started
shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari took over power.
“For
some reasons, he has been under investigation for the last six months
since President Muhammadu Buhari came into power,” Mr. Ajuwa told
PREMIUM TIMES.
“He has been going to the EFCC back and forth and
all sort of things are happening. The EFCC has invited the wife, his
brothers and maltreated them.
“Eventually, they charged him to
court before Justice Salihu Sa’idu on a 30 count charge and penultimate
Friday while he was in their custody; they charged him again before
Justice Mohammed Buba, all of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi Lagos.
“Both
courts granted him bail after he was remanded in Ikoyi Prisons for
seven days. His trial was supposed to start last week Tuesday but the
court was adjourned for today.
“While we were in court, they
filed a 2000 page proof of evidence and the counsels were unable to
review the document and prepare their defence.
“The judge was
averse to a prolong adjournment but decided to give the defence the
benefit of the doubt by adjourning further hearing on the matter till
January 18, 2016.”
Just as the former NIMASA boss stepped out of
the courtroom, Mr. Ajuwa said persons suspected to be SSS operatives
appeared with a detachment of policemen and beat up Mr. Akpobolokemi.
He
said the operatives used force to re-arrest his client even then he had
secured bails from two different court where he was charged by the
Federal Government.
“It took us seven days to perfect the bail in
both courts and so he is under two bails at the time they took him
away,” he told this newspaper.
Asked if the government
prosecutors had sought to squash the bails granted Mr. Akpobolokemi
during the court sitting, Mr. Ajuwa responded in the negative.
Already,
he said the matter had been reported to Justice Buba and a motion filed
for the former NIMASA boss to be produced in court on Tuesday.
“With
the way they treated him, we don’t know whether the man is alive or
not. They beat him thoroughly before bundling him into their vehicle.
The video is there for people to see,” Mr. Ajuwa said.
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