No fewer than 30 lawyers have indicated their
willingness to challenge the demolition of the
Upper Class Hotel, Onitsha, owned by Chief
Bonaventure Mokwe, on the orders of the
Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi.
The governor last Friday ordered the
demolition following the discovery of two
human heads and some firearms in the hotel,
located at the Old Market Road, Onitsha, last
Thursday.
The lawyers, in their separate petitions to the
Inspector-General of Police and the
Commissioner of Police, Anambra State,
described the demolition as "hasty and a
display of jungle justice."
Leading the lawyers were Dr. M. Umenweke
and F. Ibeh.
The lawyers, who said Mokwe was known in
Onitsha, added that there was no proper
investigation before the demolition took place.
They said they would approach the High Court
in Onitsha on Monday (today) to enforce
Mokwe's fundamental rights as guaranteed by
law.
In one of the petitions entitled, 'A trump up
allegation against Chief Bonaventure Mokwe,'
Kachi Bielu and Co. appealed to the police
leadership to organise a full scale investigation
into the matter in order to unravel the persons
behind the "frame up" against their client.
It read, "It is our instruction to appeal to you
to use your good offices to send a crack team
from the Force Criminal Investigation
Department or the monitoring unit and
transfer the case to a police formation, where
the case will be properly handled and
investigated."
Also, Umenweke and Ibeh, leading over 30
other lawyers, described as stage-managed
the "arrest, detention and humiliation" of
Mokwe.
The lawyers alleged that some people
"smuggled" the human skulls into the premises
in order to incriminate the hotel proprietor.
They further demanded to know who made
the complaint to the police and why
government should demolish the hotel, which
they said was Mokwe's only evidence.

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