Activist attacked, detained by police for demanding Kogi governor’s sack

Idris Wada, Kogi state governor

The Governor has denied a role in the arrest.
A man has been attacked and arrested by police in Kogi State allegedly for demanding the removal of the state governor, Idris Wada.
Umar Goodman, a local activist, was whisked away by armed police officers Saturday-allegedly on the orders of the governor- after he led two protests calling for Mr. Wada’s sack, a demand he based on a ruling of the Supreme Court.
The governor has denied having a hand in Mr. Goodman’s arrest.
Mr. Goodman’s family said police loaded in three trucks stormed their residence in Idah, Kogi State at about 5 a.m. on Saturday; beat him up in front of his wife and children before he was taken to the police headquarters in Lokoja where he was detained over the weekend.
Mr. Goodman was later arraigned before a magistrate court in Lokoja, Monday, charged with thuggery. The case was adjourned by the presiding Magistrate, C.O. Oyelude, till April 15. Mr. Goodman was ordered remanded in the prison until the next hearing.
Mr. Goodman’s travail began after he led a peaceful protest to the Kogi State House of Assembly on March 19, and another demonstration on March 27 to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abuja demanding a fresh governorship election in Kogi State in compliance with a Supreme Court judgment delivered on January 27, 2012.
His group, The Association for Justice and Good Governance of Kogi State and Patriotic Elders of Kogi State, claims the Supreme Court had declared as null and void the continued stay in office of the governors of Sokoto, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Cross River and Kogi States and ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections in the affected states.
The group said the clearest pointer to the involvement of the state governor in the case against Mr. Goodman was when the state attorney general, Joe Abraham, appeared at the magistrate court during the consideration of what should be regarded as an insignificant police case.
Meanwhile, the police has put forward new charges against Mr. Goodman, according to the investigating officer, one Mr. Olayinka. Mr. Goodman would now be charged for “false publication and illegal procession”.
The state police commissioner, Saidu Madaki, could not be immediately reached.
When contacted, Jacob Edi, the Special Adviser, Media to the Kogi State governor, denied Mr. Wada was behind the arrest of Mr. Goodman.
“It is totally untrue and His Excellency did not ordered any arrest,” Mr. Edi said.
He said the attorney general’s presence at the magistrate court showed that the man was working.
Mr. Goodman’s group has petitioned Independent Electoral Commission, the Attorney General of the Federation, PDP national chairman as well as the Inspector General of Police.
In a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Adeyemi Martins, the group denounced the arrest of its leader.
“So, the right to peaceful protest, assembly and speech remains an inalienable right of every Nigerian citizen and groups. This right is not only fundamental, but protected by the different international protocols and conventions of which Nigeria is a signatory to including the dictates of the constitution of Nigeria,” the group said.
“It is an ugly and dangerous trend to see these various manifestations of criminal intimidation and harassment of the populace who have suffered so much deprivation in the hands of the government becoming a daily occurrence in our body polity.”