Bayelsa judge attacked during APC suit hearing; party leader says PDP responsible

The judge of a Bayelsa state high court was pelted with stones out of his court Thursday by hoodlums who disrupted the hearing of a suit into the disputed ward, local government and state congresses of the APC in the state.

The claimant, Alex Blackson and his brother, Osom Blackson, were injured during the stampede in the court room, while the presiding Judge, Justice Nayai Aganaba, was stoned before he was rushed to safety.

Most of the lawyers were chased out, while those who came with the claimant were brutalised.

The hoodlums were said to have been provoked over the alleged insistence of Justice Aganaba to hear the suit filed by Alex Blackson, seeking the order to set aside the disputed congresses of the APC held last year.

While the police attempted to arrest party leaders believed to have masterminded the court melee, the hoodlums responded with force and there were gunshots heard at the party secretariat.

Two persons were arrested.

The APC chairman insisted the PDP orchestrated it.

“APC has nothing to do with the invasion of the court. We are a law-abiding party and we have faith in the Judiciary over cases before it. We condemn the act in its entirety and call on the Police to fish out those behind it.”

But Osom Blackson said that those who tore his shirt and dealt him several blows were known APC members.