Omehia: Don’t Undermine the Judiciary, APC Tells Wike

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has decried the action of Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who has sought to restore the rights and privileges due to Sir Celestine Omehia, as a former governor of the State.

In a statement issued by the State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Chris Finebone, the party expressed embarrassment that Wike, who is a legal practitioner, could disregard a ruling of the Supreme Court on the matter.

According to the statement, “the Governor of Rivers State, Barrister Nyesom Wike claimed that he has restored the rights and privileges due to Sir Celestine Ngozichim Omehia as a former governor of Rivers State. The governor affirmed this by placing the portrait of Celestine Omehia amongst the portraits of former governors of Rivers State in the Executive Council Chamber of the Government House.

“As a party, the APC recalls that the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a 2007 verdict, that is now popular in Nigeria, ruled that Sir Celestine Omehia was never a ‘governor in the eyes of the law’ and consequently nullified his governorship as having not happened. That landmark judgment also ordered that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi be sworn in immediately as the rightful Governor of Rivers State. The Supreme Court explicitly declared that Omehia held the office in error and illegally.

“Apart from Amaechi, the next immediate beneficiary of that development was Wike who was shortly appointed Chief of Staff by Amaechi. Can Governor Wike, in all honesty, recall drawing the attention of his former boss to the need to override certain aspects of the Supreme Court ruling and defiantly restore Omehia’s rights, howbeit, as he has just done? Can governor Wike today own up to several of the anti-Omehia actions he took as Amaechi’s Chief of Staff until he was called to order?