<\/p>\n
Rivers State Governor , Chief Nyesom\u00a0 Wike, has stated that the\u00a0 enemies of the state will be disappointed\u00a0 after the rerun elections on December 10, 2016 , despite their negative\u00a0 plots against\u00a0 the\u00a0 state.<\/p>\n
Speaking during the\u00a0 2016 Super Sunday Service of the Christ Apostolic Church at Emohua, Governor Wike\u00a0 noted that the enemies\u00a0 of\u00a0 Rivers State are working\u00a0 hard to stoke violence in areas where the rerun elections will hold .<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI have to come to formally report to God that the enemies of the state are back. The way they were humiliated in 2015 and March 19, 2016 is the way they would be humiliated\u00a0 on December 10, 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cPray for peace in the forthcoming rerun\u00a0 elections in the state .\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor\u00a0 said\u00a0 that the resources\u00a0 of\u00a0 Rivers State\u00a0 will always be used for the good of Rivers people.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever again\u00a0 will Rivers resources be used to sponsor national politics. We will not take our money to play\u00a0 national politics\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Governor Wike added: \u201cRivers is a Christian State and we owe nobody an apology for that. I want to reiterate our commitment\u00a0 to setting up\u00a0 a special intervention\u00a0 fund for churches to take care of their members\u00a0 who are in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt present, church\u00a0 leaders\u00a0 are fine tuning the details\u00a0 for this special fund, which we believe will further unite the church.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor\u00a0 said\u00a0 that State Ecumenical Centre\u00a0 will be\u00a0 ready for the State\u2019s\u00a0 50th Anniversary by next year, while the Government House Chapel will be\u00a0 dedicated\u00a0 by December, 2016.<\/p>\n
In his address, Chairman of the Port Harcourt Conference of the Christ Apostolic Church, Pastor GC Onuigbo urged the governor to sustain his development\u00a0 programmes. He also called on the governor\u00a0 to carry all the people of the state\u00a0 along irrespective of their political affiliation.<\/p>\n
Guest Preacher, Pastor Ayo Ezekiel described Governor Wike\u00a0 as a man of destiny who has been positioned by God to rebuild\u00a0 Rivers State.<\/p>\n
Highpoints\u00a0 of the Super Sunday Service were the special prayers for Governor Wike, Rivers State and Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has declared that any attempt to humiliate, muzzle and weaken the nation\u2019s judiciary under any guise, for manifestly political purposes, cannot be healthy for the stability and progress of the nation\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n
In his address at the opening of the Rivers State Judiciary 2016\/2017 Legal Year at the State High Court in Port Harcourt last Friday, Wike said the attacks on the judiciary: \u201cStands to be condemned by all those who can see the danger in such brazen actions by state agencies that are subject to our laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is even more disturbing is the double standard and lack of courage exhibited in the matter by the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) when there was nothing new in the facts to warrant such a dangerous volte-face and pitiable submission to extraneous pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor said that the judiciary must be independent and effective to enforce the universal application of the rule of law.<\/p>\n
According to him, the absence of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary is a recipe for anarchy.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt serves no useful purpose to be desperate or hysterical with the fight against corruption. Thus, it remains unacceptable when unorthodox mechanisms not warranted by law are applied in the so-called fight against corruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some of us, the provocative invasion of the residences and subsequent arrest and detention of serving judges and justices of the Supreme Court in the dead of the night cannot by any stretch of imagination be justified as appropriate in a decent society.<\/p>\n
\u201cGranted that judges are not above the law, but at the same time, they do not deserve to be assaulted, stripped of their dignity and treated like common criminals on mere suspicion and unproven allegations of misfeasance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking further, Wike faulted the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government, saying, \u201cThe fight against corruption in the country undermines development. It serves no useful purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n
He flayed the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC) and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on their decision supporting the stepping down of the embattled judges arrested by operatives of Department of State Security (DSS) on alleged corrupt practices.<\/p>\n
Wike lamented that, if the two revered legal bodies knew the implications of their decision, the NJC and NBA would have thought twice.<\/p>\n
The governor said it was unfortunate and dangerous because lawyers had played into the hands of politicians, which would later be used against the former.<\/p>\n
The governor also took time to berate the police and the INEC for aiding the Rivers APC to rig the forthcoming Rivers rerun elections through the printing of fake election result sheets.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cEven now, INEC is doing nothing to convince the world that the outstanding elections they have suddenly and reluctantly fixed for 10th December, 2016 will be free, fair and credible.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather, they have already started the sabotaging process by giving out the security codes of result sheets to agents of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to enable them have replicas of INEC\u2019s result sheets with which to easily rig the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Onueze Okocha, decried the extreme poor treatment of judicial officers as if they are common criminals.<\/p>\n
He said though corruption should be condemned, the government must realise that the failure to obey the rule of law, lack of respect for the separation of powers and the rule of law constitute corruption.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe NBA, with due respect to our esteemed president and some other leading lights in the association, has appeared to be rather vacillating on this matter and the issues now thrown up\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Emmanuel Aguma (SAN) said the country was living in perilous times when justice has been forced to be selective with the independence of the judiciary on shaky grounds.<\/p>\n
He regretted that the security agencies now manufacture evidence against judges for the purpose of intimidation.<\/p>\n
In her address, Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Adama Inyie Iyayi-Lamikanra, commended Wike for enthroning financial autonomy at the state.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Rivers State Judiciary held a re-dedication church service to mark the beginning of the 2016\/2016 legal year at the Saint Paul\u2019s Anglican Cathedral in Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n
In her speech, the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Adama Iyayi-Lamikanra, had thanked the governor for his commitment in repositioning the judicial system in the state.<\/p>\n
Iyayi-Lamikanra said there has been regular release of funds to the judiciary by the state government even without request, adding that the governor had rescued the judiciary workers from the current economic recession.<\/p>\n
She disclosed that the judiciary had remitted N367, 000,000 to the state account in the last legal year.<\/p>\n
The state chief judge further confirmed the approval of two judges by the National Judicial Council, adding that they would be sworn-in, Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rivers State Governor , Chief Nyesom\u00a0 Wike, has stated that the\u00a0 enemies of the state will be disappointed\u00a0 after the rerun elections on December 10, 2016 , despite their negative\u00a0 plots against\u00a0 the\u00a0 state. Speaking during the\u00a0 2016 Super Sunday Service of the Christ Apostolic Church at Emohua, Governor Wike\u00a0 noted that the enemies\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/140121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}