SAN FRANCISCO, April 26 (THEWILL) – The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, joined by some party chieftains in rivers state have condemned the continued spate of politically-motivated killings, intimidation and persecution of APC members in Rivers under the watch of the state Governor, Nyesom Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The party also decried the level of impunity in the Rivers State House of Assembly, lamenting that despite a December 23, 2015, Court of Appeal ruling upholding the election of an APC member, Hon. Victoria Wobo Nyeche, to represent Port Harcourt 1 Constituency of Rivers State with the issuance of a Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, thereafter, the Rivers State House of Assembly has refused to administer Oath-of-Office on Nyeche.
It made this disclosure on Monday night at a press briefing held at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja which was attended by the Deputy National Chairman (South), Engr. Segun Oni; Deputy National Secretary, Orji Ugofa; Rivers State APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, the affected lawmaker, Nyeche and a member of the 7th House of Representatives from Rivers state, Hon. Andrew Igbonule Uchendu.
Below is the full text of a statement read by Nyeche as well as the statements from other party leaders present at the press conference:
On December 23, 2015, a Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja upheld my April 11, 2015 electionas a member of Rivers State House of Assembly. The Court of Appeal subsequently ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue me a Certificate of Return and that I should be sworn in as Honourable member of the Rivers State House of Assembly to represent Port Harcourt 1 state constituency of Rivers state. INEC has since issued me a Certificate of Return.
On the February 12, 2016, I wrote to the Clerk of the Rivers State House of Assembly and also submitted my Certificate of Return which was acknowledged in the same letter, I requested that a date and venue for my swearing in be communicated to me either by phone or to the address which I provided in my letter. Surprisingly, absolutely nothing has been done till date nor any information communicated to me in respect of same.
On April 21, 2016, I heard over the radio that State House of Assembly Members who had not taken their oath of office will be sworn in on the that 21st of April 2016 at the State House of Assembly chambers at 9am. I duly presented myself for the swearing in ceremony. The Clerk of the Rivers State House of Assembly refused to swear me in on the orders of the Speaker. Instead the Speaker, Hon. Adams Daboturodima, read out a purported order by a lower court stopping my swearing-in. According to him, a Rivers State High Court presided by Justice Adolphus Enebili ordered that I should not be sworn in because there is a matter pending before him. This indeed came to me as a shock as neither my party nor I had been served with any originating processes of the Rivers State High Court nor any purported Order emanating from the Court.
But from what we have heard over the radio and social media, one Livingston Wechie alleged that I impersonated myself by addressing myself as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly when I have not been sworn in. This is strange. He went to the court praying for an order restraining me from being sworn in as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
It is obvious that this is a conspiracy against myself and my party, the All Progressives Congress, since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Nyesom Wike-led Rivers state administration failed woefully in their attempt to rig my election. They have been making spirited efforts to stop me from being returned since April 11 2015. My case is the only one out of all the APC cases in Rivers State that the Court of Appeal ordered a return. Because they did not succeed then, they are now coming through the back door to deprive me of the mandate my people have freely given to me on the April 11 2015 State House of Assembly elections. Unfortunately, the Rivers State judiciary is being used to achieve this purpose. The Court of Appeal has returned me as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly hence and by force of the law, no one no matter how highly placed can overturn the decision of the Court of Appeal which is the last court in adjudicating elections petition in State House of Assembly matters. The oath of office is an administrative issue which must be performed by the Clerk of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
For the records, this is the same Livingston Wechie that wrote the petition against Rotimi Amaechi’s ministerial screening. He is the same person bringing up the trumped up charge against me to stop my swearing in. This proves beyond reasonable doubt that my persecution is politically-motivated. This is a political witch-hunt and conspiracy against me because of my membership of the All Progressives Congress. Ultimately, the grand plan is to completely eliminate the APC in Rivers State.
Whatever offence they allege I have committed has nothing to do with my Appeal Court-ordered swearing in because the swearing in does not jeopardize the matter in any way. Even worse is the fact that the person who went to court did not contest the election with me and is not even a member of my Constituency.
I was alleged to have impersonated myself as a member of the House as I have not been sworn in. The Supreme Court has held in Ogbunyita Vs Okudo, concerning the appointment of Justice Philip Nnaemeka-Agu, that he became a Justice of the Court of Appeal on the day he was appointed and not the day he was sworn in, as swearing in has to do with beginning to function in that office as opposed to being a justice therein.
It is the same thing here, I had been declared the Elected representative of Portharcourt 1 in the State House of Assembly and do not have to be sworn in to be a member, I have to be a member to be sworn in. Justice Enebeli as a Judge knows this.
Most importantly, the Constitution provides in Section 287 that Courts must give effect to the decisions of the courts above them in the hierarchy of courts. The court of Appeal being the final court on this matter of who is the duly elected member of the State House of Assembly, has decided in my favour with a directive that I be sworn-in. No other court in Nigeria, Yes,none can now purport to intervene to stop the carrying into effect of that clear directive as Justice Enebeli, a High court judge below the court of Appeal had purported to have done.This is a breach of the Constitution, he swore as a judge to uphold. It is a breach of Section 287 which enjoins him to give effect to the judgment of a higher court instead of scuttling it.As a high court judge, he has no jurisdiction on the matter of my swearing-in flowing from a concluded election petition.
- I call on the Clerk of the Rivers State House of Assembly to immediately administer the Oath-of –Office to me as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly in compliance with the Court of Appeal judgement.
- I call on the Attorney General of the Federation and the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to rescue the Rivers State judiciary by calling Justice AdolphusEnebili to order for blatantly disregarding the decision of a court of higher jurisdiction. What he has tried to do is to ensure that the verdict of the Court of Appeal is of no effect by stopping my swearing in. This is unbecoming of a high ranking judicial officer
SIGNED:
Hon. Victoria Wobo Nyeche
Elected Member of the Rivers State House of Assembly
Portharcourt 1 State Constituency of Rivers State
Court Judgements Are Sacrosanct – Segun Oni
The APC Deputy National Chairman (South), Engr. Segun Oni while fielding questions from journalist at the press conference cautioned the Rivers State House of Assembly against flouting the Appeal Court judgement upholding the election of Hon. Victoria Wobo Nyeche, and immediately administer Oath-of-Office to her.
Oni: “As far as we are concern, judgements of the court are sacrosanct, they should be respected, they should be obeyed and there are no short-cut. Unless there are other encumbrances that are related to either an appeal be filed in higher quarters, I don’t think there should be anything stopping it. And I want to say very clearly here, if there is an allegation of impersonation, it is not about the elections. Therefore, the fact that she won and has been duly returned is not in dispute. There should be no reason at all why anybody would be looking for anywhere to be erecting any road-block on her way to getting sworn-in duly so that she can take her position as the member of the state House of Assembly. If they say she impersonated, she does not enjoys any immunity, they would square that up in the court and if she is to appear before any duly constituted court of law, I am sure she will and she has explained to you, anyway, you will know that is not logical that she will impersonate herself, but they are looking for road-block to erect on her way and I don’t think that, that is tenable. So, they should swear her in immediately and if there are any legal battles to be drawn, then they can draw it. That is our position and our position is that anywhere where the law is very clear we will encourage even if the membership is somebody from any other party, we think such a member should be sworn in, in accordance with rule of law.
On Rivers Inconclusive elections
Oni: “Well, my personal view on inconclusive election is that until the atmosphere is right and conducive, because we will be making a mockery of democracy if we conduct elections that are more or less gang wars. And people would hijack at will, people would you know, the last one they killed an innocent youth corper, they killed soldiers and so on. And until there is an assurance that there is already a clean-up of small arms that are in the hands of people dangerous weapon all over Rivers state now, I will not, I will not personally recommend that we should go into election.”
Nyesom Wike Running A Parallel Country – Rivers APC Chairman Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya
Ikanya: “It is very pathetic what is happening in Rivers State now. The PDP Governor in Rivers state seems to be running a country of his own. He does not obey any part of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He gives his own rules, he has his own sets of laws and he does not bother about the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I can give you instances; first and foremost, this is a man that has his own army that is free to kill and then all he does is go to call AIT and he would give reasons why he should kill. This is somebody that has actually threatened anybody that wants to conduct elections in Rivers state to write his will. We lost a youth corper, some soldiers were killed, an State Security Services (SSS) operative was killed. Two days ago, Dr. Vincent Elvin Eebee was killed in Bori and this is where Nyemsom Wike has blackmailed soldiers not to carryout their constitutional duty of taking away arms from criminals. We are aware also that the office of our Senator, Senator Magnus Abe was brought down by bombs planted by hoodlums in that area. So, it is difficult to say who would be the next person to be killed in Rivers state. They have gone to the Judiciary, you can see the kind of order that a judge of the High Court of the state would give. We said this to the country that Nyesom Wike had procured the judiciary in Rivers state to do his bidding. As I am speaking to you now, they have compiled a list of over 100 APC leaders to be arraigned. They will just arrest you, give you a charge and they commit you to prison. That is what is happening right now in Rivers state.
“One example is Ojukaye Flag-Amachree an APC leader in Asari-Toru that went to the Police Station to bail a party man only for the police to turn around and say oh! We are even looking for you. This is the charge against you, murder. Now, they kill our people and they turn around to bring murder charges against us who have lost a lot of our party members. This is what we are suffering in Rivers State, and as I speak with you Ojukaye is in prison custody and that is what is happening in Rivers state. So we are calling on every Nigerian to rise to fight against this kind of terrorism. This is a government that is killing her people in the name of politics. We have written a lot of petitions, we have made a lot of complains, we have held press conferences and nothing seems to be happening, because the man at the helm of affairs in Rivers State does not respect any law of this country.
“You asked about the elections, you knew what happened during election. It was very sad that the election could go the way it went in Rivers State. You can see an election concluded and five days after, the result would be announced and some other results are not announced. Wherever APC won, there was no announcement, wherever PDP maneuvered, it was announced. It is very very sad, even an election where the officer was asked to announce PDP at gunpoint and it was on social media everything, that result was still announced. The day that the INEC electoral Commissioner was giving certificate to those PDP people, he told them, none of you won any election, but because INEC is not a court, we have to give them the certificate. It is so pathetic that we would have a state in a country that would be completely lawless. It would interest you to know that we have also complained to the Inspector-General of Police, who said to us that he has given clear orders that the police should be professionals, but that order is not been obeyed in the state.”
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