An advocate for constitutional democracy and Executive Director, Legislative Watch, Hon. Ngozika Ihuoma wants the judiciary to explain what remedies there are for Senator Orji Uzor Kalu who was held unlawfully for five months before his acquittal.
Ihuoma who spoke to our correspondent in Owerri the Imo state capital said in near similar scenario, Chief Bode George was freed from prison after serving two years imprisonment.
“What are the remedial options before citizens who have been unlawfully held in prison before the judgment of the court of final arbitration?”
Ihuoma who argued that the laws of the country hold that until a suspect is adjudged guilty by a competent court, and allowed to exhaust he right to fair hearing, he is considered innocent.
He queried why the court should clampdown Kalu in prison when the apex court was yet to determine the matter, insisting that the former governor should be entitled to some remedies or compensations for his rights that were roundly violated by the unlawful incarceration in prison.
His words: “The Supreme Court verdict on Orji Uzor Kalu’s case was just like that of Bode George who was discharged by the Supreme Court after serving two years imprisonment.
“What happens to the five months that Kalu served? Since the matter is starting afresh, what remedy will accrue to him?
Should he not have been allowed his freedom till the Supreme Court judgment?”
Source: New Telegraph
