Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, representing Rivers South East Senatorial District, on the platform og the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State of playing what he called politics of rascality.
Senator Abe condemned the decision of the governor of Rivers State and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to swear in the duly elected APC members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, describing it as rascality and impunity.
“This kind of rascality and impunity that we are experiencing in Rivers State will not be allowed and tolerated,”
The Senator, who spoke to news men in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State insisted that the law makers elected on the platform of the APC will march into the Rivers State House of Assembly to participate in the deliberations of the House.
He said that the option for the APC lawmakers to march into the state House of Assembly to begin their function has become expedient following the insistence of Governor Nyesom Wike that the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly would not swear them in.
“If the Speaker will not swear them in, they will match into the House of Assembly and take their place because they have been returned”.
He asked well-meaning Nigerians to condemn the actions of the governor as such could derail our democracy even as he contended that swearing-in of members of the House was not constitutional but ceremonial, arguing that in the absence of the swearing-in, the elected legislators have the right to participate in the deliberations.
“There is no constitutional requirement for swearing-in law makers in the country. It is a ceremony, which the Speaker may perform if he so chooses. If he chooses not to swear them in, that cannot in anyway de-legitimize their membership of the House of Assembly. So, the Speaker has a choice. He can swear them in, which is what he is expected to do as the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly or he can refuse and they will go into the House of Assembly and take their seats without his permission because he has no right to sit as a tribunal over the return of any legislator.”
Senator Abe also indicated that he will challenge the Commission of Inquiry setup by Governor Wike to investigate the act of violence and other matters that occurred during the December 10 re-run elections in Rivers State.
He said that although the setting up of the commission by the governor appeared amusing, there is the need to challenge it in Court as such Commission is intended to produce documented indictment on the leaders of APC.
“I think this is the joke of the year. Like every other joke that has been reduced to pen and paper, we are going to treat it seriously. We will challenge that so-called commission in the Court,”
Senator Abe said that it has become necessary to challenge the commission because such commission should be unbiased but past commissions setup by the governor had demonstrated that the intention was to indict APC members and exonerate PDP members from any culpability.
He added that the setting up of the commission runs against the legal maxim that one cannot be a judge in his own case.
Senator Abe expressed discontent that the governor will perpetuate a lot of atrocities and impunity, only to setup a commission of inquiry to exonerate himself and his party and blame the APC.
He said that the governor chose to setup the commission having heard that the Inspector-General of Police had commenced investigation in some allegations against the governor.
“Because the Inspector-General of Police has asked the Police to investigate allegations and the circumstance of the things that happened here and then the chief suspect says that he has no confidence in the investigation of the Police and went ahead to setup his own inquiry. This is a man that for the past one week has done nothing but to express his bias. He has already indicted everybody that he can indict and then he is setting up a commission of inquiry. How would any other person have confidence in that kind of inquiry when his bias is known; his prejudice is clear? Like every other commission that has been set up by this administration, it is design with one thing and only one thing in mind to indict leaders of All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.” [myad]
