Oraifite Carnage: Court Adjourns Hearing Due To Absence Of First Respondents

 Oraifite Carnage: Court Adjourns Hearing Due To Absence Of First Respondents The case instituted at the Federal High Court in Awka, the Ana...

 Oraifite Carnage: Court Adjourns Hearing Due To Absence Of First Respondents

The case instituted at the Federal High Court in Awka, the Anambra State capital, over the criminal offense perpetrated by the officers of the Nigeria Police Force amongst others, came up on Thursday 4th February, 2021. Recall that on the 2nd of December 2019, Nigeria security forces carried out a dastardly carnage against the citizens of Oraifite, Anambra State. This is the ancestral home of Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lawyer to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. In that mayhem, lives were lost and properties worth fortunes, completely equally destroyed.

Arguments ensued on Thursday 4th February 2021, in the court room pertaining who served the hearing notice brought before it, even as the first respondents (Nigeria Police), failed to appear. The presiding judge objected to hearing the matter due to the obvious absence of the police. Barristers Nnaemeka Ejiofor Esquire, Chinwe Umeche Esquire and Austin Ezeoke Esquire, representing the applicants, were requested by the judge to liaise and agree with other respondents present, on another convenient date for the next sitting. All the respondents were expected to equally be informed through the court bailiff, concerning the new date.

The applicants however, pleaded with the court for the hearing of the matter earlier fixed for the day, considering the logistics and expenses involved, putting into cognizance, their far distant locations with attendant inconveniences. The presiding judge however, objected to the request, stating that all the respondents involved in the case, must be present in court due to it's complexity. The judge conclusively added that fundamental human right was  gravely abused.

Both parties (applicants and respondents) subsequently agreed to have the next court sitting on the case on Friday 18th March 2021, and was so adjourned.

Egwuatu Chukz

Reporting for Family Writers Press International

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