.....Indicts him for hiding
under the fight against Covid 19 to do mischief
...describes the demolition
of buildings, impounding and auctioning of vehicles as ultra vires, beyond his
powers and height of despotism and nepotism
....Says Rivers Attorney
General may have retreated to slumber land
.... Queries the whereabout
of Elders of Rivers State
Gov. Nyesom Wike has continued
to be caught in the web of massive power drunkenness and executive recklessness
in the discharge of his functions especially, in his purported fight against
Covid 19 since the emergence and spread of the pandemic in the country.
Worried over the safety of
Rivers people, especially the less privileged whose sources of livelihood has
been grossly affected by the governor's acts of horrendous rascality, a
chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and former National Publicity
Secretary of the defunct New People's Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze
Chukwuemeka Eze, said the governor now sees himself as a natural ruler
administering over a police state.
Describing the arbitrary
excercise of power as anarchical, the party Chief said the deliberate
sufferings meted out on Rivers people on daily basis is pointer and justifies
the fact that Wike was forcefully imposed on Rivers people by evil forces who
do not mean well for the state, stressing that no democratic leader installed
through the instrumentality of the ballot can be so draconian, heartless and
inconsiderate to plight of the electorates whom he claimed voted him into
office.
Frowning at the demolition of
hotels and auctioning of cars belonging to alleged defaulters of the governor's
executive orders, Chief Eze said Gov. Wike acted beyond his bounds; citing
Section 36 (12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
(as amended), where it was settled that offences and penalty for any offence
must be clearly stated in a written law.
He reminded the governor that
the Constitution is the
*fons et origo;* the
origin and source from whence every other laws derive their validity.
For further guidance, Eze
tasked the governor take a thorough perusal of the case of FAITH V GOVERNOR OF
LAGOS STATE & ANOTHER (2016) LPELR-41066 (CA), where the governor of Lagos
State issued a directive inhibiting movements of citizens during the monthly
environmental sanitation exercise, and the Court of Appeal, in a unanimous
judgement held that the Appellant could not be arrested or prosecuted for non
compliance with an Executive Order of the Governor of Lagos State because the
offence is not prescribed in a written law and is therefore unknown to law
Drawing inference from the
afore cited Constitutional provision and case law, Chief Eze queried the
foundation upon which the governor's ultra vires actions are anchored.
He further pointed to Section
1 (3) of the Constitution where it was expressly stated thus: "if any
other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this
Constitution shall prevail and that other law shall to the extent of its
inconsistency be void".
Eze referred the governor to
Section 5 of the Quarantine Act which provides for a term of imprisonment not
exceeding six months or a fine of N200 or both as punishment for defaulters of
the Act.
The obvious implication of
that section is that defaulters of any regulation made by the President or
Governor of a state to curtail infectious disease is liable to a fine of N200
or a term of imprisonment for six months or both and nothing more. It is
therefore disturbing to learn that Gov. Wike has arrogated to himself more
powers outside the limit prescribed in the Quarantine Act.
There is therefore no law
empowering the governor to confiscate or order the confiscation of goods or
demolition of any house or houses belonging to defaulters under the Quarantine
Act because Section 5 of the said Act already provides for punishment for
offenders.
It therefore amounts to
executive rascality and sheer recklessness for Wike to confiscate and auction
properties and demolish structures merely because their owners violated an
order which punishment the law already provides.
Eze pleaded that with a
conquered State House of Assembly and a silenced Traditional Rulers, the Elites
and Elders of Rivers State should assist the State by speaking up against the
evil that has bedevilled the State to avoid the current state where Wike has
turned the State into a laughing stock.
Eze wonders where are the
elders of Rivers State and cried asking where are the Abiye Sekibos,
Chief Emeh Glory Emehs, Chief Sergeant Awuses, Hon Austin Oparas,
Chief OCJ Okochas. Where are you Olaka Nwogu, Uche Secondus, Chief Anyawu. What
about Tele Ikuru, Felix Obua, Celestine Omehia, Thompson Sekibo, Lee Maeba, K.
K. Kobani and a host of others who conspired to foist Wike on Rivers
people?
Where are the Dr Peter Odilis,
President Goodluck Jonathans, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba that imposed this man on
Rivers State? You must all be feeling guilty, disappointed and disgraced
by the governor's ill-bred and untutored actions against Rivers people.
Eze queried the whereabout of
the academics in the PDP and those serving in the government; Prof. Ebeku,
Prof. Mmom, Prof. Adango, Prof. Didia, Prof. Ndimele, Prof. Onuchukwu and
others. Gov. Wike has indeed made nonsense of their academic attainments and
they must all have hidden their faces in shame.
Chief Eze called on the few
with conscience working with the governor not to die in silence, but
speak up in defence of the people and or resign to save their conscience from
imminent death, stressing that posterity will not forgive them if they continue
to accept to be stocked like pieces of furniture and watch Rivers people
continue to go through the dehumanizing and melancholic condition the governor
has subjected them.
Chief Eze Expressed disappointment
over the indolence of the Attorney General of the state whose responsibility it
is to tutor the governor on issues touching on law to reduce constant
exhibition of ignorance and crass cluelessness in the public space particularly
now that the Governor have lost and forgotten all that he was taught in the Law
School.
He tasked the Attorney General
to return from slumber land and save the governor from further embarrassing
blunder which has already painted the government as one lacking in men who are
stocked with the requisite knowledge in law and practice.
He said the state Attorney
General must not see himself as the governor's puppet, always there to receive
orders and prohibitions without making any meaningful impact as such does not
speak well of a man of his status in the academia, but only makes mockery of
his professorial attainment in law.
He appealed to Rivers people
to remain calm, assuring that the challenges will definitely fizzle out.
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