The charges were filed at the state High Court, on Monday, though yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing.
Chief Lloyd was moved from Force Crime Investigations Department (FCID), Abuja, on Friday to Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, in preparation for his arraignment.
Force spokesman, Frank Mba, who confirmed that the charges had been filed against the majority leader on Monday, said the police would go ahead to prove its case against him.
According to Mba, the six-count charge bordered on conspiracy, attempted murder, causing bodily harm and act intended to cause grievous harm.
Mba added that all the charges were filed under the Rivers State Criminal Code.
When asked by the Nigerian Tribune on the alleged high handedness of the police, as reported by the media, Mba refuted the allegations, saying they were false and baseless.
According to him, detectives from the IGP’s office were polite, civil and professional in dealing with Chief Lloyd, when he was being interrogated at the Force Headquarters.
“Lloyd was interrogated in a friendly and cordial atmosphere and I don’t know why people should insinuate what is not and what never existed,” he said.
Mba added that detectives handling the case were meticulous and professional, adding that it was untrue that the police tortured the detained legislator.
“I want to say that our handling of the investigation involving Lloyd has been as professional as possible. We have done everything humanly possible to ensure that the lawmaker’s rights are respected.
“It is not true that he is being manhandled. It is not true that he was tear-gassed and it is also not true that he was moved from the airport to the state command headquarters in a black Maria.
“As a matter of fact, we used an armoured personnel carrier to move him from the airport to the command headquarters. And the reasons are obvious, because of the peculiar nature of Rivers State politics,” he said.
Mba added that the police took precautionary measure to ensure the safety of Lloyd by moving him in an armoured personnel carrier from the airport to the state police headquarters, adding that the police had enough men on the ground to escort the motorcade carrying the house leader from the airport to state police command headquarters.
“I can also assure that it is not true that Chidi Lloyd is having any health issue. He is doing very well,” he said.
Mbu denies involvement in Lloyd’s travails.
The Rivers State police command has absolved itself from the continued detention and alleged torture of Lloyd.
The command’s position came just as various stakeholders continued to mount pressure on the Inspector General of Police to heed the directive of the National Assembly to immediately effect the transfer of the state Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu.
While the Senator representing Rivers South-East senatorial district, Senator Magnus Abe, expressed disappointment in the delay in effecting the transfer, the Ogbakor Ikwerre, Lagos branch, called for speed in carrying out the order.
Speaking at a press briefing in Port Harcourt, on Monday, Mbu said he was yet to see Lloyd since he was transferred back to the state by the Force Headquarters on Friday.
He said he had nothing to do with the detention of Lloyd, adding that “he is under the custody of the Force headquarters, which already has a commissioner of police from Abuja to follow up his case.”
He added that whatever had been happening to the lawmaker since he walked up to the Force Headquarters in Abuja, last week, as well as the processes of his prosecution were not under his watch.
Speaking further, Mbu said the command had, in the month of July, arrested 88 suspected robbers, 16 suspected kidnappers, recovered 38 firearms, 2,631 rounds of ammunition, as well as six vehicles from suspects.
Meanwhile, Abe has reinforced the recent calls for the immediate redeployment of Mbu, over his questionable involvement in the Rivers crisis.
Speaking to the media in Port Harcourt, on Monday, Senator Abe, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, expressed sadness that the police hierarchy had not done anything on the matter.
He insisted that the police commissioner should be redeployed so that the peace and stability of the state would not continue to be threatened.
On the crisis in the state, he called on all political stakeholders to work for peace and stability, while he equally urged them to resolve their political differences in the spirit of give and take.
On the takeover of the state House of Assembly by the National Assembly, Abe said “all the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly, except the power of impeachment, is now moved to Abuja, so it is now vested in the National Assembly.
“If you want to pass any law in Rivers State, you have to approach the National Assembly. If you want to do anything that the state House of Assembly is entitled to do by law, you have to approach the National Assembly. That is what it means.”
In the same vein, in a statement signed by 11 members of its executives, including the president, Magnus Amos, the Lagos branch of Ogbakor Ikwerre Convention called for the redeployment of Mbu, in the interest of peace in the state.
Rivers speaker loses bid to stop police arrest.
Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, on Monday, lost his bid to stop the police from arresting him, over the alarm he once raised over a plot to assassinate Governor Rotimi Amaechi.
Dan-Amachree’s bid failed at a Rivers High Court in Port Harcourt, just as a group of civil rights activists sued the police over the continued detention of Lloyd.
Presiding over Dan-Amachree’s case, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, after hearing the arguments of the parties in the case, said there was no justification for issuing a perpetual injunction to restrain the police from investigating any Nigerian for an offence.
The judge further observed that the allegation levelled against the state police command was premature and could not form a ground to restrain the police from doing its statutory duties.
Meanwhile, a suit has been filed at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt for the police to produce Lloyd in court for onward release.
The application seeking for the lawmaker to be produced in court was filed by Ken Atsuwete, Mr Godknows Forth, James Amah, Austin Igwe, Oliver Amah and Aaron Omega.
The defendants in the suits are the Inspector-General of Police and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police.
In an affidavit, the plaintiffs averred that the whereabouts of the lawmaker remained shrouded in secrecy.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
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