PDP slams Gbajabiamila, demands release of CUPP spokesperson

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed the Speaker of the House of Representatives over the arrest of Spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere.

In a statement via the party's official Twitter handle, the party "demands the immediate and unconditional release" Ugochinyere, who was arrested on the orders of Gbajabiamila.

"The party decried the arrest of the CUPP Spokesman, in defiance of a subsisting court order barring such, as a direct affront to the judiciary, an assault on our democratic practice and a violation of Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere’s rights as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

"In demanding his release, our party is deeply worried by reports that the CUPP spokesperson is being detained under very dehumanizing condition where he is also allegedly being tortured.

"The @OfficialPDPNig insists that, without prejudice to the issues between the leadership of the House of Representatives and the CUPP, for which the two parties were before a court, resorting to using the police to arrest and detain the CUPP spokesperson, in defiance of the orders of the court, is completely unacceptable, unlawful and cannot be justified under any guise whatsoever.

Read the full statement below:

Our party charges the Presiding Officers of the @OfficialAPCNg-led House of Representatives to note that Nigeria is a democratic state, governed by law which creates no space for the whims and caprices of dictatorial,...

— Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) June 19, 2020