Scores of suspected political thugs said to have been mobilised by a faction of the APC in Abia State yesterday, disrupted activities at the State High Court sitting at Okpuala Ngwa and stopped the court from sitting.

The activities of the thugs alleged to be supporters of the Donatus Nwankpa faction of the party in the state, had arrived the court premises early in bus and were positioned by one of their leaders in strategic places in the court premises, including the two entrances through which lawyers and litigants enter the court room.

They also blocked the narrow road leading to the court which is located in a remote area of Isiala Ngwa North Council headquarters, with one of the buses to prevent those in the other faction from having access to the Court. The leader who directed affairs for the thugs was overheard boasting that the court would not sit.

As instructed by their leader, the thugs who were armed with dangerous weapons, including machete, identified members of Dr. Emmanuel Ndukwe-led executive committee, backed by an order of the court and stopped them from gaining access to the court and even beat some of them, including the youth leader of that faction who had his shirt torn to pieces.

The situation degenerated to a level where some vehicles belonging to the Ndukwe camp were attacked and the windshield of a four- wheel Toyota Jeep belonging an official of the camp was broken. Worried by the development, one of the lawyers to Ndukwe camp approached his colleague from the Nwankpa faction to prevail on the people but his effort did not stop them.

Sensing danger under the tense and chaotic atmosphere, aimed at frustrating the Court from sitting, the presiding Judge, Justice Collington Okoroafor directed the registrar of the court to take a date with the parties, who after a long argument, eventually, agreed on October 31st, 2018.

The matter has been enmeshed in controversies ranging from disparaging the rulings of the court and the Judge; to transferring the case file to another court without the knowledge of the presiding judge and lawyers to Ndukwe faction, an action the Judge has since directed the Court registrar to reverse and return the file for him to hear the motions on transfer and other pending motions before him.

•Excerpted from Vanguard report

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