Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, is in the news for
rescuing Joi Nunieh, former managing director of the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC), from forceful arrest.
Policemen had laid a siege to Nunieh’s residence hours
before she was to appear before a house of representatives’ panel probing the
alleged fraud at NDDC.
Nunieh had spoken of illegalities at the commission,
levelling so many allegations against Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta
Affairs, whom she accused of sexual harassment.
Nunieh alleged that the minister asked her to change the
dollars in the NDDC account; sack the head of the legal team who is from the
north; remove all directors who refused to follow his instructions and also to
implicate Peter Nwaoboshi, chairman of the senate committee on NDDC.
But for the arrival of Wike, Nunieh would have been taken
away from her residence in Port Harcourt by the policemen, who according to
her, pulled down the gate and attempted to break down the security door.
The governor had taken her to government house, Port
Harcourt.
The incident is a reminder of how Wike foiled the attempted
arrest of Mohammed Liman, a judge, on October 8, 2016.
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) had
stormed 35 Forces Avenue, Port Harcourt, the residence of Liman.
The DSS had raided the houses of judges across the country
while searching for “evidence linking the judges to corruption”.
Some judges were later prosecuted by the secret police but
Wike ensured that Liman was not arrested on the night that security operatives
laid siege to his residence.
Wike had accused the security agencies of not following due
process in the discharge of their duties.
“Not under my watch will I allow this kind of impunity to
take place. That is why we are here. I don’t know which judge they were
detailed to abduct. I didn’t bother myself to know which judge. All I am
interested in is that, at this level, it is not allowed,” he had said.
“He is not a criminal and he is not an armed robber. If the
person has committed an offence, invite him. It is only when he refuses to
honour the invitation that you can adopt this commando style.
“The Commissioner of Police is here, the Director of DSS is
here. Their operatives cocked their guns and threatened to shoot me. I have
never seen that before. Again, this is to tell you what we are facing. We know
that more will come. For us in this state, we shall continue to resist it.
“It doesn’t matter what it will cost. When you talk about
liberty, sacrifices must be made. We are not trying to stop an arrest. All we
are saying is that things must be done decently and in line with the rule of
law.
“Rivers State is under siege. For you to see a governor out
at this time of the day, something is wrong. A siege is an understatement. If
this type of thing happens next time, the people will resist it to the last.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com