A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has said that it was Governor Nyesom Wike that owes Rivers state and not Celestine Omehia.
Eze was of the opinion that it was Wike that lobbied the state assembly to enable Omehia enjoy the benefits of an ex governor against the Supreme Court judgement.
The Supreme Court decision in the celebrated case Amaechi v INEC decided in 2007 had said Celestine Omehia was never a governor.
Eze said in that famous case which enjoyed the status of a ‘locus classicus’, the court, after an exhaustive consideration of the facts brought before it, granted the prayers of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi against INEC, PDP and Celestine Omehia, unseat the later and ordered that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi be sworn in as the duly elected Governor of the state.
The apex court was emphatic on the status of Celestine Omehia, to wit, he was never a Governor as he merely held brief for Amaechi within the six months period he held sway as Governor. That means every actions he took and all decisions he made were credited to Amaechi on whose stead he acted.
In a statement made available to media houses in Port Harcourt Monday, Eze stated that during the pendency of the case at the apex Court, Gov. Nyesom Wike was in the circle of those furnishing Rt. Hon. Amaechi with the bit of daily updates on the matter until judgment was given.
According to Eze, the gloom of apprehension that engulfed the entire political hemisphere in Rivers state at the time and forced Hon Chibuike Amaechi into self-exile in Ghana.
He said it is common knowledge that decisions of a higher court, are law automatically and must be relied upon as binding precedents to the courts below. And by that decision, it is the law that Celestine Omehia was never a governor.
He noted that in the spirit of responsibility and respect to the law, Amaechi complied with the decision of the court on the status of Celestine Omehia, after a thorough briefing from law experts on the subject until the end of his tenure in 2015.
According to him, there was a sudden turn of event after Nyesom Wike took over power as governor, when he allegedly lobbied the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, to cook up a legislative process to recognize Omehia as a former governor to enable him enjoy the rights and privileges that accrue to men of that status.
“The governor used the instrumentality of the state assembly as flavour to garnish his unlawful act and until their relationship turned sour, Omehia enjoyed every benefit befitting a former holder of the office of Governor of Rivers state.
“All of these, the governor did to demonize Amaechi and send a wrong signal to the public that the former Governor was evil. And his strategy worked for him in the congregation of his praise singers and gullible followers who can barely differentiate right from wrong,” he said.
