Hon. Linus Okorie, a two-term member of the House of Representatives and the Labour Party senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South Zone in the 2023 election, was remanded in custody yesterday by an Abakaliki Magistrate Court.
Okorie was said to have been kidnapped on Sunday morning while driving out of his Abakaliki residence, and was brought to the headquarters of the Ebubeagu Security outfit on Monday morning. It was also reported that the police went to Ebubeagu’s office in the Old Government House and arrested him..
He was arrested and charged with false information, fraud, murder, and felony.
The police claimed that Okorie, in collaboration with others, attempted to defraud the government of N750,000.00 in property in the Abakaliki metropolis on August 2021 in one of the three separate charges filed against him.
Ndukaku Chinagorom-Eze, the Police Prosecutor, told the court that the offences violated Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, Cap. A66 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006, and Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, Cap. A66 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006.
The charges partly read: “That you Linus Okorie ‘m’ and others at large, sometime in the month of August, 2021, at Layota Farm Abakaliki within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did conspire amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit: Advance Fee Fraud and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, CAP. A66 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006.
“That you Linus Okorie ‘m’ and others now at large, on the same date, place and in the aforesaid Magistrate District did with intent to defraud, obtain National Identity Card Registration Machine valued Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N750,000.00), property of the Federal Government of Nigeria, through a medium of contract induced by false pretense and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 1 (3) of Advance Fee Fraud Act, CAP A66 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006.”
Barr Nomeh Chikaodiri, Okorie’s counsel, pleaded with the Magistrate to grant the suspect bail, claiming that as a senior citizen, he would not jump bail.
However, the Prosecuting Counsel, ASP Chinagorom-Eze, objected to the bail application, claiming that the suspect might obstruct the court process due to his social standing.
Justice I. Ogodo, the Magistrate, remanded the suspect and ordered that the case be transferred to the Federal High Court in Abakaliki for competent adjudication and trial.
The matter was postponed until November 4, 2022, for a compliance report.
In response, the suspect’s Lead Counsel, Barr Chikaodiri, stated that the Tuesday Court decision was an abuse and a slap in the face to judicial proceedings.
He said, “We have details of the charges already and we opposed the reading of the charges before the court, because in our humble view it constitutes an abuse of court processes.
“There is a judgement of a Federal High Court by Justice Ekwo that restrained the Nigeria Police and the Ebonyi State Government from arresting Hon. Linus Okorie and that judgement is still subsisting on the same subject matter.
“We raised an objection, which was overruled. But we will test it, we have seen it all and, by the grace of God the intendment of the charges is to keep him behind the bars. That’s the intendment and our client is a leading senatorial candidate in Ebonyi South and the essence of all this is to weaken him and his supporters.
“But at the end of the day, the law will take its course. The law is for everybody and no one is above the law. If there is a court judgement directing the parties to maintain status quo, the parties are under obligation to respect and obey that judgement and anyone not at peace with the court judgement, should go to Court of Appeal and not to resort to self-help. What the state government is doing now is to resort to self-help.
“We will either approach the Court of Appeal which earlier delivered judgement on the matter or think of other options. This is because what happened today is an abuse and an affront to judicial proceedings.”
