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#Assault on Protesters: Rights lawyer Ogedegbe diswons mediators who received compensation from Ovwie Council chair
By Osaro Michael, Benin
Rights lawyer, Omes Ogedegbe one of the lawyers who was brutalised by suspected thugs of Uvwie Local Government Council during the #endbadgovernance protest in Delta state has excused himself from what he described as a lopsided settlement by the council chairman and One chief Otomewo who acted as a mediator.
The rights lawyer expressed utter dismay for the council chairman and Chief Otomewo to decide terms of final settlement without inviting him for final input after several unfruitful meetings and talks.
The victim Ogedegbe who had earlier summed up his loss and cost of medicals to a total of seven million naira (#7,000,000.00), faulted the mediator Chief Otomewo for receiving the sum of two million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (#2,500,00) only for the settlement without inviting him to know his final position.
Ogedegbe, who rejected the settlement, stated that he didn’t give autonomy to anybody to decide anything or receive money on his behalf, adding that he was shocked when he was told that N 2.5m Naira only was received on his behalf as compensation for over a N7m loss.
While faulting the Uvwie Council chairman action, Ogedegbe said the settlement does not portray the best interest of the victims, adding that they acted without a proper consultation.
He said that the chairman and the mediator agreeing at N2.5m compensation without his input is unacceptable and made the settlement null and void.
The protest letter written to the chairman Nigeria Barr Association Effurun, which Congress news stumbled on a copy reads, “Suffice to state, on the 1st of August, 2024 I was amongst the lawyers attacked at the DSC roundabout by irate youths unleashed by the council chairman on peaceful protesters as we were able to arrest five of the defendants on the said day with the assistance of the military personnel.
Although, the matter was charged to court thereafter, we have relaxed our intention to arrest other known members of the group awaiting the settlement process as it will be counterproductive to do so and a likely disregard to your person and office ( Council Chairman).
“While I commend you for the speed move to resolving the issue, I dare to ask if the settlement meeting called up at your office was merely cosmetic as I remembered with nostalgia feeling how I painstakingly visited your office in the sure hope of a genuine settlement process. At the only first supposed well attended meeting, I stated the price of my items including my Samsung fold phone which was stolen and the medical procedures which amounted to about seven million naira (#7,000,00.00) only with the Vice Chairman of the council and the defendants in attendance.
“The above meeting was adjourned at the instance of the Vice Chairman who claimed to have attended the said meeting without a financial mandate from the Council chairman.
“Sadly, several meetings were called up, I ignorantly made myself available in the innocent believe the settlement was in process only to have been informed by the Vice President of the Branch at my prompting in court on the 18th of October, 2024 that the sum of two million five hundred thousand naira only ₦2.5m was received on our behalf from the council chairman.
The implication of the above is that our input was not necessary in the matter as a decision has been reached beforehand without my input when the price for only my phone stolen has not changed, it remains $2599 as I made a replacement just recently.
“I do not know how the said two million five hundred thousand naira (#2,500,00.00) only can replace my phone and assuage my medical expenses as I was admitted for two days at the Heartland Clinic where I was made to undergo several painful medical procedures, a situation that infused the necessity for an electronic massager at great cost.
“The said action is a subtle demonstration of the brazenness of the Council chairman who had called me sometime in October, 2024 accusing me of inflating the cost of my phone doubting if any was ever stolen he was possibly basking on the ability of the settlement committee to impose his parochial desire on the victims of his own misdirected ambivalence.
The meeting again fixed for 25th October, 2024 is therefore most reason as it appears it will only be an avenue to rationalize a decision already reached before hand. I most humbly wish to excuse myself from the said meeting.
“I have been privileged to get information as to the wishful boasting from certain quarters as to the lack of evidence on our part to prosecute the case before court, but that should not be our deterring.
My Chief, this is the time to keep hope alive as the possibility that we might fail in a matter should not deter us from pursuing a cause we are convinced is upright and just.
If the scope of the settlement meeting is for the parties to be browbeaten to submission then I beg to be excused,” he added.
Congress learnt that the matter is still pending in Magistrate Court, Ebrumede, Uvwie Local government area of Delta State. Ogedegbe further threatened to continue with the prosecution of the suspects in court following the deadlock in the supposed settlement.