Thugs, on Wednesday, invaded a Bayelsa High Court and disrupted proceedings in a suit on disputed ward, council and state congresses of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The hoodlums, numbering over 30, chased lawyers and the judge away from the court while an official of the court, the claimant, Alex Blackson and his brother, Osom Blackson, were injured.

The presiding judge, Justice Nayai Aganaba, escaped unhurt after he was stoned with plastic bottles by the hoodlums and was taken to safety by his police orderly.

It was gathered that most of the lawyers in court were also chased out, while those that came with the claimant were brutalised.

It was learnt the hoodlums might have been provoked by alleged insistence of the judge to hear the suit filed by Alex Blackson, seeking the order of the court to set aside the disputed congresses of the APC held last year.

The State Chairman of the party, Dennis Otiotio, who was also in the court but escaped by a whisker, condemned what he described as a brazen and crude invasion of the court by thugs.

He said: “It is with great displeasure and pain that I am formally condemning the brazen and crude invasion of the court room of High Court 3, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on the 13th of April, 2022, when my Lord, Justice N. Aganaba, was sitting and presiding over a matter, which I and our party are co-defendants.

“As the state chairman of the Bayelsa State chapter of the APC, I know it is not the practice of our party to revert to disorderly and unlawful tactics as we believe in the rule of law and sanctity of our courts. I therefore condemn in the strongest terms, the events of 13th day of April, 2022, and call on the security agencies to delve into the matter and take appropriate actions that will punish the culprits and create difference, for the good of our society.”

Counsel to the claimant, P.J. Fawei, who confirmed the incident, described the invasion as pathetic and a show of disrespect for the sanctity of the court.

Another chieftain of the party, Sunday Frank Oputu, condemned the attack and described it as barbaric and an open show of disrespect to the symbol of the law.