I was blindfolded and brought back to portharcourt. Story from guardian

Lloyd MAJORITY Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, was blindfolded by the police on arrival at the Port Harcourt International Airport Friday, before being taken to the Police Command for interrogation. The Guardian gathered that Lloyd, who had on Tuesday July 23 reported to Police Headquarters in Abuja following an earlier invitation by the police, was flown back to Port Harcourt yesterday morning amidst tight security. On arrival, the police immediately blindfolded him and whisked him away to the Police Headquarters on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt for further interrogation. Counsel to Lloyd, Emenike Ebete told The Guardian that he had anticipated that the Police would arraign Lloyd in court to enable him apply for his bail but after several hours of delay, the police legal team failed to take him to court. He accused the police of deliberating frustrating Lloyd’s legal team effort to secure his release. “The Police dehumanized him by blind-folding him from the airport to the Police Headquarters. Worst still, he was supposed to be arraigned in court today (yesterday) but the police also frustrated his arraignment knowing too well that it was Friday. “The pplice know that if he goes to court, he will get bail and so they just want to keep him till Monday in a bid to punish him,” he said. A top police officer who pleaded anonymity, said Lloyd was actually blindfolded to prevent people from recognizing him as he was being taken from the airport to Police Headquarters. The source did not however confirm if he was physically assaulted. Some of the pro-Governor Chibuike Amaechi members of the House of Assembly who had anticipated that Lloyd would be arraigned by the police, waited in vain at the state judicial complex Friday. When The Guardian contacted the Police Command spokesperson, Angela Agabe, on phone to confirm if the lawmaker was being tortured by the police, she claimed she was busy. Meanwhile, the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) in the House of Representatives, Dakuku Peterside, Friday accused the Rivers State Police Command of subjecting Lloyd to torture in a bid to coerce and compel him to obtain an involuntary extra-judicial confessional statement. Peterside, the federal lawmaker representing Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro Federal in a statement made available to The Guardian, said the torture of Lloyd is taking place at the Rivers State Police Command where he was transferred to under the strict and personal supervision of the state Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu. “For the records, let us state that section 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, prohibits this crude and barbaric conduct of Commissioner of Police of Rivers State as every citizen of this country is entitled to respect for his human dignity and Mbu does not have unbridled power to deprive any citizen of this constitutionally guaranteed right, especially in a democracy,” he said. For Peterside, said the police action is not only condemnable, but also regrettable. The Rivers State Police Command under Mbu, according to him, seems not to be bothered by the fact that any evidence that is obtained by force, torture, intimidation or by any form of abuse, is not admissible in the court of law”. The lawmaker wondered why this is happening at this time despite the intervention of the National Assembly. “This inhuman conduct by Rivers State Police Command is not only a gross abuse of the fundamental human rights of the accused, but further confirms our fears that Mbu is out to eliminate Lloyd who has been subjected to horrific ordeal since his return to Rivers State, and other pro-Amaechi lawmakers,” he said. This development, he stressed, is antithetical to the Geneva Convention which expressly demands that countries take effective measures to prevent torture within their borders. According to him, other international laws also confirm that torture and other mistreatment of persons in custody are also prohibited in all circumstances under international human rights law. Peterside however praised the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, for the civility and professionalism he exhibited during Lloyd’s short stay at the Police Headquarters in Abuja. He, therefore, called on “the Police High Command to do the needful and stop subjecting the accused to these inhumanities until full investigation into the crisis is concluded. He has neither been convicted of any offence nor condemned to perpetual incarceration in police custody by any court of law.” Lloyd was later driven out of the Police Officers’ Mess in an unmarked Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) to a destination The Guardian could not ascertain at the time of filing this report.