For the past 25 years, I’ve been unfairly moving from one court to another in Nigeria in criminal trials for crimes I never committed. Not once have I been convicted of any crime and not once have I run away from my trial. I doubt if I even have any record of missing a court date even when I had to travel for hundreds of miles to get to court.
The Police have again charged me under the cybercrime act because I wrote that someone wrote the law school exams for the wife of Governor Ayade’s younger brother. I was supposed to be arraigned today 14 February at the Federal High Court 4 in Abuja.
My lawyers pleaded improper service of the charge on me by the Police and that stalled my arraignment today the court adjourned till March 27, 2022, to allow proper service by my lawyers and my arraignment on the adjourned date.
I am ready to stand trial and defend myself as always. But, in what appears like desperation to satisfy their paymasters, the Police have vowed to come for me. They have already invited my brother, Utsu Atsu, who stood surety for me at the Police station with the intention to detain him. They have also vowed to disregard the court and come back to arrest me from my home and lock me up, till the next court date.
I am aware that the Ayades are bent on making sure I am removed from circulation before the forthcoming elections for reasons best known to them. They are using every foul means, money and the Police in particular to achieve this goal. For me, I have never run away from law enforcement agents because I am not a criminal and it won’t be different this time. I am a law-abiding citizen and I expect the Police to respect the court and leave me and my brother, Utsu Atsu, alone until March 27, when I shall be in court as the court has pleased.
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
Leave feedback about this