The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the violence and killings that occurred during the March 19 state and National Assembly rerun elections in the state even as the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state condemn the move.
In a statewide broadcast yesterday, Governor Wike said the establishment of the commission was to forestall a recurrence of such violence and killings in future elections.
He said that part of the expectations from the commission are recommendations that would be implemented by the state government, saying: “In order to forestall a repeat of the needless violence and fatalities in future elections, I hereby establish a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to investigate the violence, killings and other related acts that occurred in parts of the state during the March 19, 2016 rerun elections and make appropriate recommendations to the government for implementation.”
Members of the panel are Hon. Justice Monima Wenike Danagogo, chairman; Venerable John Adubasim, member; Douye Green, member; Joseph Zabbey; member, Luke Nwanodi, member; and Uche Uriri, secretary.
Members of the commission were expected to have been sworn today.
But in statement the APC Spokesperson for the state, Senibo Chris Finebone described the probenas “self-serving and a mere smokescreen” by the governor to rubbish his political opponents and divert attention from the violence and deaths he planted, nurtured and carried out during the Rivers State rerun elections.
The APC recalled that following the killings in electoral violence in Rivers State in 2015, the then governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi set up the Professor Chidi Odinkalu Commission to unravel the issues behind the killings, saying that it was the same Wike and the PDP that swiftly filed suit No FHC/PHC/256/2015 at a Port Harcourt against the sitting of that Commission.
“One of the arguments by the PDP and Nyesom Wike was that the former governor was an interested party in what happened during the elections and therefore should not have set up the panel. This time, Governor Nyesom Wike is on record for having threatened violence and death to stakeholders long before and even during the rerun elections. There is no doubt that the several threats Nyseom Wike issued to his supporters and associates gave rise to the widespread and wanton killings by the PDP and their acolytes. Therefore, where lies the enabling neutrality and moral high ground for Gov. Nyesom Wike to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate a matter in which he is the mastermind-in-chief?”
The APC asked Governor Wike to consider the matter of the commission a total waste of time and resources, and dead on arrival.
“Taking a look at the members of the commission, the APC would like to advise Gov. Wike to look for a more honest means of compensating his supporters and their relations rather than sending them on a journey to nowhere or one that will suffer a still-birth.” [myad]
