A Rivers State High Court has ordered that a fresh hearing notice be served on the Nigerian Police to produce the detained Leader of the state House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, in court today. The trial judge, Justice L. L. Nyordee, gave the order yesterday after the complainant failed to arraign the accused in court.
Justice Nyordee noted that a hearing notice had earlier been served the complainant by counsel to the accused person to take plea yesterday.
He, however, adjourned till today, for the accused to be arraigned, so that he could take his plea.
Earlier, the lead counsel to the leader of the House of Assembly, Beluolisa Nwofor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), drew the attention of the court to the absence of his client.
Nwofor told the court that police had violated the state High Court Practice Directory, 2013, which called for impartial and speedy adjudication of matters.
He, therefore, urged the court to order the complainant, who was also absent, to arraign the accused, so that he could take plea because the matter had to do with criminal charges.
Also, he prayed the court to strike out the case, if police failed to arraign him, threatening to sue the complainant for malicious prosecution.
"The prosecution has the duty to ensure that the accused is in court. But, they have abridged the law."
Lloyd's lead counsel, Nwofor, who spoke to journalists shortly after sitting, feared the health condition of his client.
He said Lloyd had been in detention for over a week and under torture, adding that he had not seen his client.
Nwofor stated that failure of the police to arraign him yesterday was a manifestation of the tortured allegation levelled against the complainant.
After waiting for several hours, the court resumed sitting at about 2:47pm and ended at about 3:16pm.
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