…Police Barricade Councils’ Entrances
AGAIN, political tension boiled over yesterday in Rivers State following Thursday’s ruling of the Federal High Court, which nullified the May 23 council elections won by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates, and attempts by the 22 new local government caretaker chairmen sworn in same day by Governor Nyesom Wike as a result of the judgment, to access their various secretariats.

Justice Lambo Akanbi of Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had on Thursday nullified the council elections conducted by former governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, in disregard of a pending matter filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against the conduct of the polls.

The annulment paved way for Wike to swear in the 22 council chairmen who were barred by the Police from assuming office. But the planned inauguration of council executives was thwarted following the abrupt deployment of policemen to the various secretariats yesterday. 

At Emohua Council Secretariat, there was a clash between supporters of the PDP and APC, following the refusal of the latter to vacate the council. Eyewitnesses alleged that there were sporadic gunshots in the area during the clash.

In Obio-Akpor Council Government, but for the swift intervention of the Caretaker Chairman of Bright Amaewhule, there would have been a clash in the secretariat between the Police and PDP members, who accompanied him to the council.

Displeased by the action of the Police, the PDP members resorted to chanting anti-Police war songs and vowed to storm the council today.

At the Port Harcourt City Council, over eight Police vans were deployed to the secretariat and workers were barred from entering the premises.

It was also gathered that workers at Tai Council were told not to resume work till further notice.

This happened just as the national leadership of the PDP yesterday asked the Police to immediately open the secretariat of all the 23 councils it sealed up on Thursday.

The party described as “unconstitutional, reprehensible, abuse of power and brazen show of partisanship,” the action of the Police in barring caretaker committees lawfully appointed by the state government from taking charge of the councils.

On his part, Wike said it was regrettable for the Police to disobey court order dissolving the former council executives.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday said the action of the Police was an affront to the ruling of the court. “It was curious that the Police allowed the dissolution of local government councils and appointment of caretaker committees in APC-controlled Plateau and Kaduna states, even when they were without the orders of the court, but elected to clamp down on that of Rivers State, which came as a result of judicial pronouncement,” PDP said.

It therefore urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to come out clean on the matter and assure the nation of the non-partisanship of the Police by ordering the immediate unsealing of the councils.

The party said Nigerians and the international community should note the development, which “is a yet another clear indication that the Nigerian Police may have become a partisan and compromised instrument in the hands of the APC federal government to destabilize PDP-controlled states, particularly Rivers State”.

Wike, at the inauguration of the reconstituted Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission and the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission at the Government House, Port Harcourt, condemned the action of the Police.

“Yesterday (Thursday), we inaugurated the caretaker chairmen; the court dissolved the local governments. The court said the election was illegal and nullified the election. But you can see what is happening in the country today and that is the change everybody is talking about.

“The change the Nigerians expect is what we are seeing this morning. We woke up this morning and the Police have taken over all the council secretariats. They said that is the directive of the Inspector-General of Police. They said nobody should enter the councils. I knew this will happen, that is why I didn’t dissolve the councils”, Wike said.

He continued: “Plateau State government dissolved local government councils and nothing happened. Now, the court has nullified the election and Police said they will not obey court order. If I had dissolved the councils then, there would have been an excuse. Where did you derive your powers to dissolve the councils? So, that is the change Nigeria is expecting, and we have seen the change”.
 
The governor implored Rivers people to be patient and not to take the law into their hands. He described the police action as a temptation that obviously his administration would overcome.  According to him, his political antagonists had expected him to dissolve the councils since he assumed office but that he decided to follow due process.  

When contacted, the Police spokesperson, Ahmed Mohammad, said the reason for the police barricade was to protect lives and property. 

But the state Commissioner for Justice and  Attorney General, Emmanuel Aguma, said the police might have been misinformed about the circumstance surrounding the nullification of the election that ushered him the sacked council chairmen.

Aguma explained that contrary to claim that there was a pending case at the Court of Appeal, the Governor of Rivers State and the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, through the Solicitor-General of the Rivers State Ministry of Justice, on June 2, 2015, even before he was appointed Attorney-General, had withdrawn the appeal. Hence, there is no pending appeal in the matter in any court of law, filed by the Rivers State government or the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission. 

“I believe that the Police are misinformed on the true facts of this case. There is no big deal about this case. It is not the first time purportedly elected officers are removed by the court. Celestine Omehia ran an election; we all saw him ran an election genuinely conducted by INEC, not an election ingeniously conducted. The court said in the eye of the law, he was not the candidate; the court removed him and a new governor was sworn in. President Yar’adua was the President at the time and he obeyed the decision of the Court and Governor Amaechi was sworn in. There was no breakdown in law and order in Rivers State; nobody died and nobody committed suicide,” he said.
 
Aguma added: “I am not aware that there is anything at fault with that judgment and I would not want to believe as the Chief Law Officer of the state, that the Police will disregard a court order. If that is the new form of dictatorship we want to walk into in the country, so be it. One thing I know is that water always finds its level. But for now, there is a subsisting order of court, made by a competent court that has not been appealed against, that is enforceable and the Police has only one duty and the duty of the Police is to ensure that the court order is enforced and to let in the caretaker chairmen”.