Traditional Ruler Jailed In Rivers for Shouting On Judge And Threatening Others

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A monarch in Rivers state will spend the next one month in prison.

The ruling was given by a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State after the monarch, Chief Vincent Nnamdi-Otto shouted at the judge and threatened other people in court.

He was sentenced for contempt of court.

Nnamdi Ototo, a monarch, while responding to cross examination from the witness box on a disputed land suit, raised his voice at the presiding judge, requesting to know his interest in the matter.

The monarch, while further responding to question on if he was aware of an interim order of injunction restraining him from interfering with the land in dispute at Elelenwo, near Port Harcourt, claimed that he was not aware of such an order.

Nnamdi-Otto further said he knew his rival, whom he described as a crook, and that the court was condoning him.

Not done, the chief walked out of the witness box, hit his palm on the floor and threatened to deal with the judge and his rival, as well as to petition the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and an unnamed minister.

The presiding judge, Justice Aldolphus Enebele, after watching the drama for a while, ordered that Nnamdi-Otto be put back in the witness box and should show cause why he should not be committed to prison for contempt.

Justice Enebele, after listening to the presentation from the lawyers, who condemned his attitude, sentenced him to one month imprisonment before adjourning the substantive matter till May 17, 2021 for the continuation of cross-examination.