The Shitile Progressive Forum has appealed to the Government to release one of their State Assembly members, Mr. Jonathan Agbidyeh who is currently on remand for alleged possession of stolen vehicle.
The Forum’s President, Mr. Terngu Abiem, who made the appeal in Makurdi on Thursday during a press conference stated that the group was not in anyway against his prosecution but that they are only pleading with the government to release the detained legislator on bail.
He said they were not also accusing anybody or group of being behind the lawmakers ordeals.
Recall that Agbidyeh was earlier arrested by the Force headquarters over alleged possession of a stolen Hilux van.
During a press conference he held after his earlier release by the Police, Agbidye had described earlier media reports as mere fallacy, laughable and a complete misrepresentation of facets of the issue behind his invitation by the Force.
He had denied that the invitation extended to him by the Police was not in connection with late Justice Tine Tur’s missing vehicle as wrongly peddled in some sections of the media.
He explained that the Police had long verified his papers, run the relevant checks with the papers presented by the late jurist and dismissed such suspicious links.
“Though I bought this vehicle as second hand item, I have duly registered it with the Benue State Internal Revenue Service, paid Customs duty and obtained Police clearance, the implication being that, if there was anything criminal about this vehicle, those agencies would have identified and called my attention to it”
The APC member representing Katsina -Ala East had explained that while at the State Police Command in June for an assignment the officers at the gate stopped him from leaving that he was needed at its SARS office.
According to him, he reversed and drove to the SARS office where he was told that his van looked like a missing vehicle earlier reported to the Command but was later cleared to leave along with his van.
He said he was astonished to receive another invitation by the Police over the car again adding that upon arriving at the Command he was taken to the Force Headquarters’ Intelligence Response Team for further investigation in Abuja.
“Recall that in June this year, I was in the Police Command for an assignment, and while driving out in my Hilux van, I was stopped by the gate and asked to reverse back to SARS office.
“I was to later discover that the Benue Police Command alleged that the hilux van which I had purchased from Lagos State looked like a missing vehicle that was reported to the Command.
“After the police authorities cross checked the vehicle papers vis-a-vis those presented by the late Justice Tine Tur, they told us that the papers brought by the late jurist had nothing in semblance or near semblance with records on the engine and body of the vehicle including chassis, model and engine numbers, as his was model 2011 while mine is model 2015. They then, returned the vehicle to me.
“Few weeks after, while I was away from the state capital, I was called again and asked to appear together with the same vehicle at the state police command.
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“I directed my driver who took the car to the headquarters and submitted to the police for further check where it has been till date. This time, I was made to understand that a certain organization lost a similar vehicle and they suspected my car,” he explained
He said that hilux van was in Police custody since June but after demanding for his vehicle the Command said they were waiting for legal advice from the State Ministry of Justice on the matter.
He had appealed to the public to show some level of respect to late Justice Tur who had exhibited integrity, professionalism, patriotism and total commitment to his fatherland while alive and allow him to rest in peace.
Agbidyeh had further urged his constituents, assembly members and the public to disregard any misinformation they must have heard about his person regarding the matter.
