‘Supreme Court’s Verdict, Triumph Of Rule Of Law’

Rivers State Governor, Rt.Hon Chibuike Amaechi, says the Supreme Court judgement that gave birth to his administration in October 2007 is strong confirmation that the rule of law still exists in the country.

Rt Hon Amaechi made the assertion at a colloquium tagged, “Jurispundence, Democracy and the Rule of Law: The Impact of the October 25th Supreme Court Judgement,” held in Port Harcourt yesterday to mark the four years of his legal victory at the apex court in 2007.

Amaechi remarked that the judgment was a victory for the oppressed  and the  voiceless citizenry at a time when the judiciary was losing public confidence. With the apex court’s verdict, he observed that the courts regained the confidence of the people.

“The court acted not for the poor but for the rich and hence, in the bid to salvage the system, he insisted on the rule of law”.

Besides, he noted that he was equally resolved to pursue his human rights, saying, “my experience as a student leader strengthened me in my determination to get my stolen mandate”, emphasising that justice sometimes has to be fought for.

On the other hand, the Rivers State Governor argued that supernatural forces also played great role in the development.

He recalled that prior to the cross appeal made by the then incumbent, Sir Celestine Omehia, Justice Binta Nyarko had ruled that he Amaechi was the rightful candidate, adding,”so before the people went to vote, I believed I was the candidate…By the time you were voting, you were voting for Amaechi”

For him, that further prodded the Supreme Court to give him the mandate.

Rt. Hon Amaechi therefore challenged the citizenry to learn from his experience by always fighting for their fundamental rights as that would make the leaders accountable and responsible in their actions.

In his remarks, Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba remarked that with the judgement, the Supreme Court rose to the challenge to institute human rights.

Senator Ndoma-Egba said,” for the first time in my several years of law practice, that was the first time the Supreme Court exhausted all its powers to make a consequential order…they went full throttle”.

The same view was expressed by legal luminary, Prof Itse Sagay who described the verdict as”ground breaking”

Prof Sagay submitted that the judgement spawned many legal precedents as it gave birth to a more civilised polical culture amongst the ruling class.

Speaking earlier, Director of the Centre for Advanced Social Science(CASS), Prof Adele Jinadu argued that Amaechi vs INEC fostered a fresh culture of internal democracy amongst the political parties.

In a similar vein, Rev Father Stephen Dedua opined that the judgement was a clear indication of the existence of natural justice.

He explained that” once we cease to know there is eternal connection between natural law and the law of God, we shall make progress”.

State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Barrister Wogu Boms said the Ameachi apex court victory displayed a novel course in the legal history of the country.

In a related development, Governor Chibuike Amaechi has tasked local engineers to upgrade their expertise in ensuring that quality jobs are executed.

Besides, he also disclosed plans to send a fresh batch of government employed engineers for training abroad.

Reacting to a call made by the Port Harcourt branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to the State Government to engage the services of local engineers when the body paid a courtesy visit to him at Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday, Rt Hon Amaechi said it had become imperative for the engineering body to conduct a self appraisal exercise in raising the standards of work executed by members in order to gain government’s patronage.

Governor Amaechi opined that the request made by them to be engaged in project execution could not be overlooked based on its economic benefits. However, he observed that,” every government would want to use local engineers but it has to do with quality of delivery.

“So you need to do an in-house review of your activities because what you are doing for us is service”, he said.

He congratulated the body for floating its new Prevention and Failure Analysis Committee as he further charged them to check quakery and mediocrity in their activities, as he assured them of government’s patronage and support always.

Commenting on the training of state engineers, Amaechi disclosed that the first batch had already been trained and that a second batch was awaiting to be flown abroad once the arrangements were concluded.. He noted that the overseas training had become necessary to beef up supervision of government jobs and to improve local capacity.

L-R: Deputy Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Leyii Kwane (left), with his wife and Chief Judge of the state, Justice Iche Ndu at the Special Thanksgiving Service to mark the fourth Anniversary of Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s administration in Port Harcourt, last Sunday.