APC Vows to Challenge Rivers Commission of Inquiry
… Party’s lawmakers to storm Rivers’ Assembly
The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State has vowed to challenge the Commission of Inquiry setup by the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to investigate the act of violence and other matters that occurred during the December 10 re-run elections in the state.
The APC plan of action was revealed by Senator Magnus Abe, the Senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District, at a media interaction in Port Harcourt.
The party also threatened that the law makers elected on the platform of the APC will match into the Rivers State House of Assembly to participate in the deliberations of the House.
Senator Abe said although the setting up of the commission by the governor was amusing and must, therefore, be challenged in Court as such Commission was intended to produce documented indictment on the leaders of APC.
He said: “I think this is the joke of the year. Like every other joke that has been reduced to pen and paper, we are going to treat it seriously. We will challenge that so-called commission in the Court”.
Senator Abe said it was necessary to challenge the commission because such a body should be unbiased. He noted that past commissions set up by the governor had demonstrated that the intention was to indict APC members and exonerate PDP members from any culpability.
He stated that the setting up of the commission ran against the legal maxim that one should not be a judge in his own case.
Senator Abe expressed dismay that the governor, whom he accused of perpetuating a lot of atrocities and impunity, would setup a commission of inquiry to exonerate himself and his party.
The former Secretary to Rivers State Government stated that the governor chose to setup the commission having heard that the Inspector-General of Police had commenced investigation into some allegations against him.
He stated: “Because the Inspector-General of Police has asked the Police to investigate allegations and the circumstance of the things that happened here and then the chief suspect says that he has no confidence in the investigation of the Police and went ahead to setup his own inquiry. This is a man that for the past one week has done nothing but to express his bias. He has already indicted everybody that he can indict and then he is setting up a commission of inquiry. How would any other person have confidence in that kind of inquiry when his bias is known; his prejudice is clear?”
Speaking on the APC lawmakers in the state, Senator Abe, said there was a deliberate plot to frustrate them and deny them of their electoral victory, adding that Governor Wike had insisted that the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly would not swear them in.
Speaking on the APC lawmakers in the state, Senator Abe, said there was a deliberate plot to frustrate them and deny them of their electoral victory, adding that Governor Wike had insisted that the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly would not swear them in.
“If the Speaker will not swear them in, they will match into the House of Assembly and take their place because they have been returned”.
Senator Abe condemned the decision of the governor of Rivers State and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, not to swear in the duly elected APC members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, describing it as rascality and impunity.
“This kind of rascality and impunity that we are experiencing in Rivers State will not be allowed and tolerated”.
Senator Abe contended that swearing-in of members of the House was not constitutional but ceremonial, arguing that in the absence of the swearing-in, the elected legislators have the right to participate in the deliberations.
He further stated: “There is no constitutional requirement for swearing-in law makers in the country. It is a ceremony, which the Speaker may perform if he so chooses. If he chooses not to swear them in, that cannot in anyway de-legitimize their membership of the House of Assembly. So, the Speaker has a choice. He can swear them in, which is what he is expected to do as the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly or he can refuse and they will go into the House of Assembly and take their seats without his permission because he has no right to sit as a tribunal over the return of any legislator”.
