Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has alleged that a subsisting court order forms the basis for the sealing off of the campaign office of the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
This is coming just as he also accused two chieftains of the PDP, Senator Lee Maeba and Dr. Abiye Sekibo of trying to instigate violence in the state by deliberately violating a law that prohibits the location of political offices in residential areas.
He made the assertion on Friday at the inauguration of the 17.2 kilometres long Bori-Kono Road in Baen community of Khana Local Government Area of the state on Friday. He said: “A few days ago, you (Maeba) and Abiye went to Igboukwu Street, D-Line (Port Harcourt) without the approval of the government to site a political office. “We are talking about Executive Orders 21and 22 that have now been taken over by the law passed by the State House of Assembly “We did not send the chairman of Port Harcourt council to go and bring it (the building) down. We have the power.
“But we say, no, let’s take it a step further. We went to court to say, look, this is in violation of the provisions of the law. It is the court that has placed the seal-off. “If we are violent, since you want to try to see whether we are violent or not, we would have shown it. “But you’ve been defeated. We have always followed due process and we cannot be violent.”
The governor stressed that nobody was harassing anybody and preventing them from their political campaigns, but such must be done in line with statutory laws of the State. He maintained that even in the face of political provocation, unfounded allegations and outright disregard to statutory laws by those whom he referred to unruly political actors, his administration can not resort to political violence. Wike also took time to dismiss the alleged assassination attempt levelled against him by Maeba, saying he had never contemplated sending people to kill him because it was not his style of politics. He stressed that his explanation became necessary to set the record straight for posterity.
Wike insisted that while he was council chairman, chief of staff, minister and now governor, he attracted projects to his immediate community and the state, whereas Maeba has never attracted any to his native land Ogoni. According to him, the former senator was awarded an oil block, instead of growing the business, he sold it for $15 million. Wike stressed that already Rivers people are at home to listen to his political counsel on who to vote for in the 2023 election, and there is no need to resort to political violence against anybody. The governor said instead of politicians daring to disobey the Executive Orders 21 and 22, they should test the position of those regulations and laws in court.
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyers