Bayelsa Governorship Candidate, Vijah Opuama Finally Gets Bail After Detention By IGP Adamu

The Federal High Court in Abuja has finally granted bail to a governorship candidate in the last November 16, 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa State, Vijah Opuama.

Opuama, a governorship candidate of the Liberation Movement, was arrested and detained for over 20 days at the instance of the Chief of Staff to Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State, Chief Sunday Agadaga.

KanyiDaily had reported that Opuama was arrested within the premises of the election petition tribunal in Abuja on August 15, 2020, by a team from the IGP’s Monitoring Unit and had spent over two weeks in custody.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo, had on August 3, 2020, and subsequently on September 2, ordered the production of the detainee in court, but the orders were shunned by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu.

The judge, on Monday, issued the third order, following the failure of the police to comply with the September 2 order which directed that the detainee be produced in court for Monday’s proceedings.

Justice Taiwo had threatened to summon IGP Adamu to personally appear in court should he fail to obey the third order.

On Thursday, September 10, Opuama was produced from Suleja prison where an Upper Area Court in Zuba, Abuja, ordered him to be remanded after the police filed charges of resistance of arrest against him at the court on September 4.

Justice Taiwo, in his ruling granting him bail on Thursday, condemned the conduct of the police by ignoring his previous orders for the production of the detainee in court.

He said while the police chose to disobey his orders issued on August 3, and September 2, 2020, “they had time to rush the applicant to the Upper Area Court to secure his being remanded in a prison”.

The judge went on to grant him bail in the sum of N100,000 with one surety. He released Opuama to his lawyer and ordered that they must meet the bail conditions within 14 days.

KanyiDaily recalls that a woman had also accused the IGP Adamu of harassing her family over her refusal to remain in a legally dissolved marriage with one Abubakar Musa, who happens to be her ex-husband and childhood friend of the police boss.