Protection for the courts

The High Court premises in Port Harcourt shares common fences with the Federal High Court and the Port Harcourt City Local Government secretariat, while the two other courts are located at Isiokpo, headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area, and Degema, headquarters of Degema Local Government Area.
The latest attacks bring to five the number of High Court complexes destroyed with explosives suspected to be dynamites since June 2014 when the political crisis between rival politicians in a longstanding struggle for power boiled over.
The police in Rivers State, who have not announced any arrests, said the apparently coordinated attacks were launched with explosive devices.  The State Command’s Public Relation Officer (PPRO) Ahmad Muhammad said the damage in Port Harcourt and Isiokpo court buildings and to documents was not as extensive as in Degema, which he said was razed down and all court documents there destroyed.
The attack on courts is the worst form of politically-instigated violence, because in no circumstance should the primacy of the courts be compromised. The police have not established any motive, but previous incidents seemed to be aimed at preventing the courts from adjudicating on particular cases before them.  To seek to disrupt the course of justice is inviting anarchy that should not be tolerated.
Parties to cases in courts, and even some of the judiciary service workers, looking forward to the end of the strike for normal activities to resume would naturally be frustrated because some politicians have ‘decreed’ otherwise.  The Rivers State police command must sit up and take the matter seriously. Playing one political party against another is a dangerous game that the police must not be involved in.
There were suggestions that these criminal acts were a ploy to stalemate court proceedings of cases in which many aggrieved party members, who felt they were dealt a bad hand in the primary elections in state, had approached the courts for redress; others didn’t want this happen.
Given recent happenings, the police should have done more in securing the courts. That would be the first step in bringing the perpetrators and their sponsors to book.
In September last year, some youths, obviously on being prompted, disrupted hearings on the eligibility of Mr Ayodele Fayose to contest the June 21 gubernatorial election in Ekiti State.
They forced their way into the chambers of the state High court, beat up litigants and chased away the trial judge.  To date, no one has been punished for that act of brazen impunity, even though Fayose did not deny accusations that the perpetrators were his ‘boys’.
 Politicians should respect and uphold the rule of law; otherwise they are not fit to aspire to leadership positions. Leadership should be more about service to the people than arrogant display of power and its abuse.  
Whoever, and whichever political party, is involved in the incidents in Rivers State should be identified for justice to take its course. The police must see to it that this is done; otherwise the likelihood of these incidents recurring should not be discounted.
The judiciary as the interpreter of the law must be respected and allowed to carry out its constitutional duty without fear of intimidation.