Tonye Okio
Tonye Okio, an aide to former Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, has filed a lawsuit against Governor Seriake Dickson and Bayelsa Police Commissioner, Hilary Okpara, for illegally detaining him. Mr. Okio, who filed the case at the Yenagoa High Court, remains in detention.
It was learnt that Mr. Okio is being incarcerated for making a Facebook post where he alleged that a serving governor from the Niger Delta was arrested abroad with $5 million.
The comment was made while Governor Dickson was visiting the United States on an undisclosed mission. The report heightened tension in Bayelsa State, compounded by Mr. Dickson’s belated return from his trip. Rumors were rife in the state that Mr. Dickson had been apprehended by US authorities. The governor finally returned last week.
Murphy Biriabebe from the law firm of D.D. Fiderikumo & Co. is representing Mr. Okio in the lawsuit. The lawyer today gave reporters in Yenagoa a copy of the affidavit detailing Mr. Okio’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Governor Dickson had ordered the arrest and detention of a citizen for making comments on Facebook. Hearing in the case has been fixed for November 6.
Mr. Okio, who served as a special representative in Abuja under the Sylva administration, was whisked away from his home in Abuja last Thursday over an alleged defamatory comment he wrote on his Facebook page.
Determined to regain his freedom, Mr. Okio retained lawyers to file for the enforcement of his fundamental rights and his release from police detention. His lawsuit seeks the court’s declaration that his arrest and detention are contrary to the provisions of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He wants the court to declare that his arrest and detention on the basis of a publication on his Facebook account was a brazen violation of his fundamental rights. In addition, the plaintiff is asking the court to rule that the physical and mental torture to which he has been subjected amounts to a denial of his right to dignity.
The lawsuit is also asking the court to award him N2.2 billion in exemplary and general damages.
An affidavit sworn to by Tonyo Murphy Biriabebe, one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, laid out a narrative of Mr. Okio’s arrest. “On Saturday, 26 October 2013, some officers and men of the Bayelsa State Command of the Nigerian Police arrested [Mr. Okio] while he was in his house in Abuja and whisked him away to their office in Yenagoa and have detained him,” the affidavit stated.
The rest of the affidavit stated as follows: “The policemen refused to disclose to him their reason for the arrest but simply informed him that they were from the Bayelsa State Command of the Nigeria Police and that he was needed by Governor Dickson and the State Police Commissioner.
“He was taken to Yenagoa by road, bound feet to hands with cuffs and blindfolded throughout the journey from Abuja to Yenagoa.
“Okio was also beaten and tortured by the policemen who openly boasted that they will kill him and do away with his corpse for daring Governor Seriake Dickson.
“He was so afraid of being killed by the policemen in the course of the dark journey as the words and actions of his captors were mutually reinforcing to the extent that he even urinated on his clothes in the process.
“The former aide to Sylva has been in police detention on the orders of Governor Dickson since his arrest, and denied bail on the excuse that the police are investigating to determine a possible case against him
“There has not been any formal complaint against him for any wrongdoing.
“There is no law criminalizing the making of the above statement as contained in his Facebook account, and same does not refer to any particular person.”
It was gathered that Mr. Okio's arrest and detention arose from a criminal complaint submitted by Governor Dickson to the Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police to the effect that Mr. Sylva’s former aide had defamed him.
Mr. Dickson was reportedly infuriated by Mr. Okio’s post on Facebook stating that a governor from the Niger Delta had been arrested abroad for money laundering.
A few months ago, Governor Dickson had sent a bill to the Bayelsa State Assembly criminalizing rumor mongering and setting up a committee to check the spread of rumors in the state.
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