Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has accused President Bola Tinubu and the Judiciary of backing the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to take over Rivers state from Governor Siminalayi Fubara, calling on Nigerians not to allow them to have their ways.
Governor Fubara had been locked in a power tango with his predecessor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Wike, leading to a political crisis that has been going on for months.
Eze made the accusation in a statement in reaction to the recent Supreme Court judgements on Rivers state.
“Whatever mission Wike has planned to actualize in Rivers State today, is being backed by President Tinubu and the Judiciary.
“On this note, I urge Nigerians and lovers of genuine democracy to stand firm and not to allow Wike and Tinubu have their ways in Rivers State, because doing so, signposts an easy sail to a one party State, which is seriously being planned by the APC led government.
“Wike’s targets are to use his errand stooges in the House of Assembly to impeach Fubara; have access to Rivers state funds, and consolidate his strange and unholy political romance with President Tinubu”, he alleged.
Eze described the Judgments as most disappointing, unfortunate and bizarre in Nigeria’s jurisprudence.
“Allowing Speaker Martins Amaewhule and the defected 26 Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to resume sitting after all the facts and evidence in respect of their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) were glaring and laid bare in court, exposes a high level of corruption, compromise, manipulation and intimidation of the highest order.
”In spite of the fact that these lawmakers defected, the Apex court, not minding it is a policy court, decided to lend unimaginable credence to this act of illegality and affront on the country’s democratic rule.
”Suffice to say that the judgments of the Supreme Court paving the way for Martins Amaewhule and his co-defectors to return to the House of Assembly as Lawmakers, to say the least, is morally reprehensible, totally unacceptable, shamefully undemocratic, and a dastardly act that only posterity will judge those behind this inglorious act.
“The truth is that this unfortunate pronouncement by the Supreme Court against Rivers State is not against Governor Siminalayi Fubara, but against the country’s democracy; therefore I urge Nigerians to rise and defend our democracy”, the APC stalwart stated.
Chief Eze contended that for the Supreme Court to order the Central Bank of Nigeria to halt forthwith, the release of funds accruable to Rivers State from the federation account, simply exposes devious plots not only to serve the parochial interest of the FCT Minister, but to ensure that the State that lays the golden egg for the development and emancipation of Nigeria is in turmoil and probably out of existence.
“I weep for Nigeria’s Judiciary. The last hope of the common man is seemingly entangled in a web of hopelessness, that it will take God’s divine intervention to restore public confidence and trust in the minds of Nigerians.
“They overtly kidnapped, raped and decimated the country’s Judiciary when the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen was assaulted, ridiculed and prosecuted by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal by an inferior Chairman.
“That invasion of the residence of some high ranking judicial officers by the Buhari government, smacks of high level of intimidation and conspiracy against the Judiciary by the Executive.
“Since the desecration of the Judiciary by the Buhari administration, the 3rd Arm of Government under President Tinubu, seems helpless, kidnapped and raped at will by some power drunk politicians in the country who feel they have pocketed the Judiciary.
“Who can defeat Wike, his cronies and political associates at the FCT and Federal High Courts, the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court? I make bold to say, nobody in this country for now. That’s how bad the system has become, the APC Chieftain declared.
Eze, therefore appealed to the Judiciary to wake up from slumber, be courageous, upright and dispense justice without fear or favour, affection or ill-will, insisting Friday’s decisions by the Apex court in respect of the Rivers State Assembly crisis, were an aberration and an error both in law and fact that need to be varied.
He commended Governor Fubara for proving to the world that he is not a puppet and yes master.
” In deed, Fubara, by all standards, has shown that dictators and autocrats could be challenged frontally without mustering any atom of fear or regret.
“If Wike were to be Fubara, the crisis rocking the Rivers State House of Assembly would have degenerated into a national calamity, and heinous wanton destruction of lives and property as well as bombing of every nooks and crannies housing oil installations in the Niger Delta region.
“No matter the odds, Fubara has fought a good fight by exposing how one man wants to retard the socio-economic and political development of the State in a bid to pocket the common patrimony of the State for his selfish aggrandizement.
“I implore Governor Fubara to remain focused, resolute, visionary, peaceful and God fearing as he steers the ship of Rivers State, not minding the treacherous and clandestine plots by the Presidency and Wike to hijack democratic governance in the State.
“The next few days will be very interesting to see how these plots aimed at removing the Governor from office will play out.
“Nevertheless, Nigerians will never forget in a hurry that the Judiciary under President Tinubu, is truly not independent, not free from executive manipulation and control, and is allegedly being pocketed by Wike and the APC government.
“For Wike to say that God is involved in the judgments of the Supreme Court, amounts to blasphemy, and lying with God’s name. The God we serve in truth and in spirit is not of deceit and evil, He is in deed, God of vengeance. Definitely, God will vindicate Fubara and Rivers people at the appropriate time, irrespective of whatever Wike and his co tormentors-in-chief are planning”, Eze said.
