By Our Reporter
An Itsekiri leader, Chief Rita-Lori Ogbebor, has expressed concern over kidnapping of a judges and threat to abduct another one in Delta State. Ogbebor referred to a story published in a newspaper in which some kidnappers were said to have threatened to kidnap a judge from the state unless she paid N20m ransom.
According to the report, Justice Flora Azinge of Otor-Udu High Court, Delta State, had not been able to sit for two months because kidnappers threatened that she would be abducted if she did not pay a ransom of N20m.
Ogbebor in a statement on Monday said she had raised the alarm over the issue in the past when she suggested that the kidnapping of a judge who was on the verge of delivering vital judgment should be given critical attention.
She said, “When a similar case came up in the state in August, I shouted myself hoarse, but nobody listened. Now, it is becoming an issue of epidemic proportion.
“When the Okereke people went to court against the government over a parcel of land, and an interlocutory injunction was to be delivered, the judge was allegedly kidnapped on his way to court and the case has been a subject of incessant adjournment till date.”
Ogbebor said she had petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Nigerian Bar Association and the Nigeria Police, adding that the issue had not received any attention.
She lamented that there was no longer “guaranteed justice” in the state as a result of the security situation, calling on relevant authorities to do the needful.
“If a high court judge is prevented from doing his duties to the country, then, are we not heading for anarchy? Even when I threatened to go to court if nothing was done on the matter nothing was done. There was no indication that the matter, was even going to be investigated, justice is being arrested,” Ogbebor said.