The Labour Party, LP, has urged the National Judicial Council, NJC, and the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, to extend it’s search on how a member of Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon Bright Ngene, was ‘wrongly’ jailed by an impudent Magistrate, E.D Onwu, on June 28 2024.
Ngene of LP, whose rerun elections for Enugu South Urban Constituency has remained an albatross on the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the magistrate despite the NJC intervention on the matter, with the Magistrate refusing to entertain addresses by Ngene’s legal counsels.
Chairman and Publicity Secretary of the LP in Enugu state, Casmir Agbo and Onuora Odo, respectively, in a statement the party issued in Enugu contend that Ngene’s detention in Enugu Correctional Center was politically motivated, a biased and conspirational pool to take away the mandate that the people of Enugu South Urban Constituency gave to the Labour Party and Bright Ngene as the candidate.
The party noted that the resurrection of a rested Community matter against Bright Ngene after winning the House of Assembly election was a decoy and height of intolerance to have the PDP manipulate its way into undeserved seat in the state House of Assembly.
The Labour Party said: “It’s on record that the rerun election could not take place on two occasions because the masses came out to reject any form of manipulation and imposition. It’s on the strength of the stiff resistance being mounted by the Labour Party Candidate that the PDP-led government strategised and came up with an arm-twisting tactics geared towards stopping Bright at all costs.
“In total execution of their grand scheme, the PDP-led government went and resurrected a land related matter involving Bright and two others pending before the Court since 2017. In a scenario that looked more dramatic than court proceedings, the presiding Magistrate, His Worship Onwu apparently acting under instructions hurriedly and haphazardly heard the case on the 28th day of June, 2024 without adopting of Addresses by parties, and sent Hon. Bright to prison for seven years without option of fine on trumped-up charge.
“This detention is a clear attempt to silence and stop him from participating in the rerun election and calculated to muzzle and stiffle opposition in the State. We believe this detention is a gross violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, moreso when there is a pending petition before National Judicial Council (NJC) in connection with the matter.
“The Presiding Magistrate displayed manifest bias in arriving at that decision. It’s pure political intimidation and nothing more. We are calling on the NJC and the human rights Community to rise to the occasion and lend their voice against this gross injustice occasioned on Hon. Bright Ngene.
“Labour Party stands in solidarity with him and all those who face persecution for their political beliefs and activism. We urge the international community to join us in condemning this detention and advocating for his freedom. When you see something, say something and do something.”
