High Court withdraws bench warrant for Member of Parliament for Savelugu
The Tamale High Court on Monday withdrew the bench warrant it issued against Mr Iddrisu Jacob Abdulai, Member of Parliament (MP) for Savelugu.
Justice Richard Kogyapwah, presiding over the case, announced the decision after listening to argument from Counsel for the MP during proceedings at the court on Monday.
The High Court, Tamale on March 31, 2023, issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the MP after he failed to appear in court, where he was standing trial for unlawfully possessing a firearm.
The MP, led by Mr Haruna Iddrisu, former Minority Leader, and MP for Tamale South, and accompanied by Mr Alhassan Suhuyini, MP for Tamale North, appeared in court today for the proceedings.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, in an interaction with journalists after the proceedings in court, said “For good reason, the Judge exercised lawful discretion, lawfully and with justification that he (Judge) was not convinced of his (MP’s) absence in court on 31st March, and accordingly issued a bench warrant for his arrest.”
He assured that “The MP is a responsible MP and will never ever be a fugitive of justice. He did not exercise good judgment in the reason he provided to the court, which did not please my lord.”
He added that “Probably within the realm of the doctrine of separation of powers, beyond being ill and beyond being indisposed, we probably would have to make a strong argument whether Parliamentary emergencies cannot be a justification because that particular day, the MP had to be in Parliament to vote on some tax legislation.”
Meanwhile, prior to proceedings, tens of hundreds of supporters of the National Democratic Congress massed up at the High Court in Tamale to show solidarity to the MP for Savelugu.
The numbers were so huge that many of them had to be restricted outside the fence of the court, a situation, which temporarily disrupted traffic on the main road in front of the court.
Police officers, deployed to maintain law and order at the court, were initially heckled by some members of the crowd before being allowed to access the court’s premises.
Source: GNA