Anti‑Tinubu passenger Mr. Obiajulu Uja, who was aboard an Abuja‑Lagos flight, has been arraigned before the Zuba Magistrates’ Court in Abuja and remanded in prison custody, his lawyer Ejike Ugwu told The on Monday. Uja was removed from a Lagos‑Abuja flight on Friday evening after he staged a solo protest demanding that President‑elect Bola Tinubu not be sworn in on May 29. A video that went viral on Saturday showed six airport security officers evacuating him after he held up the aircraft for more than an hour; the 6 p.m. flight had still not departed by 7 p.m.
A copy of the charge sheet seen by our correspondent indicates that Uja is charged with “public nuisance, resistance to a lawful arrest, threatening violence and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace,” contrary to sections 396, 267, 188, 172 and 144 of the Penal Code Law. Ugwu said Uja was first taken to Muhammadu Buhari Police Hospital in Area 11, Abuja, where he was admitted. The hospital, however, lacked a psychiatrist and psychologist to examine him. A doctor from the National Hospital, Abuja, was invited to assess Uja, but the effort proved futile.
According to the lawyer, the police rushed to arraign Uja at the Zuba Magistrates’ Court around 3 p.m., despite the pending medical examination. “We reminded the court that the same police who invited the doctor to examine him instead hurriedly charged him and took him to court,” Ugwu said. He added that they spent nearly N40,000 on tests at the police clinic, yet none of the results were provided, no medication was prescribed, and the police seemed intent on keeping Uja in custody to continue their investigation. “We still do not know the outcome of the hospital tests because they took him away so quickly,” he explained.
Ugwu also noted that Uja’s bail application is scheduled for Thursday.
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