On Wechie’s Volte-Face

Recently, the Executive Director of the Integrity Group, a Port Harcourt-based civil society  organisation, Mr. Livingstone Wechie made a volte-face by publicly disowning the documents he tendered under an oath to the Senate and the Justice Omereji Judicial  Commission  of Inquiry on the alleged mismanagement of Rivers State funds and sale of assets by the  former administration of Mr. Chibuike  Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister  of Transportation.
In a maladroit manner, Wechie, while as a guest  of Gbenga Areluba’s Focus Nigeia on AIT, made diverse sensational vituperations among which was that the documents he allegedly  obtained  from the Rivers State Government and upon which the former governor of Rivers State, Amaechi was indicted, were forged by both him and some persons within  the state government.
In the live telecast that traversed  across the nation, Wechie asserted to know the eccentric details of the atrocious height of concoction  of  inaccuracy perpetrated and targeted  to rubbish the former  governor of the state, and not necessarily to prosecute him since the details were false.
However, the Integrity Group, in a statement  endorsed by its secretary, Uyi Meshak,  described Wechie’s flip-flop  as not only  embarrassing, but an act of  betrayal and a complete deviation from the noble cause of the group to cleanse the society of corrupt acts.
The group  went further  to clarify  that at no time it took such decision  to disown  the documents, which it said were thoroughly investigated.
“After  we tendered the documents  to the Senate  on October 12, 2015 and the legal  fireworks  that followed it, which is now before  the Supreme  Court, we have never sat to either withdraw the said petition, disown it, nor discussed it further, since it would be subjudice,” the group declared.
While The Tide does not want to question the authenticity or otherwise of the said documents, we take strong exception to the morality of Wechie’s sudden about-turn on issues he and his Integrity Group pursued and defended under oath before the Senate, the Justice  Omereji Judicial  Commission of Inquiry and the  Economic  and Financial  Crimes Commission (EFCC).
That  Wechie, a man  supposedly  imbued with  superfluous integrity, told the whole world that he, being fully aware of the fabrication of falsehood, still went  ahead to swear to  an affidavit  of falsehood before a  Federal High Court and tendered same to the Senate  and a judicial  commission of inquiry  is both reprehensible and condemnable. It is a clear case of perjury and moral depravity, and therefore demands serious legal reprimand.
We, therefore, call on the Senate to, without further delay, subject Mr. Livingstone Wechie to judicial scrutiny under Section 117 of the Criminal  Code of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which deals with perjury.
As much as The Tide welcomes the decision by the Civil Liberties Organisation to withdraw the membership of Wechie, we are saddened by the undignified silence of the Senate and security   agencies to the  self-inflicting outburst of  Mr. Wechie.
It is rather unfortunate that in a country guarded by law, the nation’s highest law making body and the security apparatus would turn deaf  ear and feign ignorance to Wechie’s criminal act that deluded  the entire nation into  errantly believing a lie.
We  hold strongly that Wechie has, by this  singular act, run against the values,  beliefs, and  principles  that define  the word ‘integrity’ and has also stripped himself  of the moral standing and  credibility to speak  again on  or involve himself  in any public discourse  or debate aimed at eliminating corruption in the society.
Given the character assassination and public ridicule his claims and counter-claims have caused all the parties involved in the issue, we urge the security agencies to, without further delay,  invite Wechie for interrogation and possibly prosecute him for perjury to serve as a deterrent to others like him who may want to score cheap political points ahead of the  crucial  2019 general  elections.