The federal high court in Abuja, has ordered the senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki; Senators Dino Melaye And Ben Murray-Bruce to immediately honor the invitation for questioning over their roles in the October 5, 2018 street procession staged in Abuja by the Peoples Democratic Party.
The three senators were part of the pdp leaders who led the protest which held some days after last year’s governorship election in Osun state was declared to have been won by the all progressives congress.
Alleging that the security agencies, including the police, colluded with the APC to rig the earlier governorship election in Ekiti state and the one later held in Osun, the senators had led a protest to the independent national electoral commission’s office in Abuja, demanding a free and fair election in 2019; and were on their way to the force headquarters when policemen dispersed them with teargas.
Delivering judgment today, justice Okon Abang dismissed the fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed by Saraki, Melaye and Murray-Bruce who had been invited by the police to answer questions in relation to the protest.
He held that a mere invitation by the police, which are empowered by section 4 of the police act to detect and investigate crimes, could never amount to harassment or intimidation.
The judge ruled that the police invitation extended to them remained valid and subsisting, adding that it was the outcome of their honouring the invitation that would determine if their rights had been violated.
