The All Progressives Congress APC in Rivers State wishes to distance itself from a purported press statement titled “Halting the invasion of the Judiciary by Gov. Nyesom Wike” issued by an impostor Mr. Ogbonna Nwuke, wherein he mischievously sought to pitch the APC against the Judiciary.
1. Ogbonna Nwuke is not the Spokesman of the APC in Rivers state as he has not been so authorized to speak for the party in any capacity and the public should take note. His representations in the said press statement are his personal opinion and those of his paymasters that can best be regarded as a mere subterfuge and a fraudulent misrepresentation of the true position of the APC in Rivers state.
2. It is an age-long tradition in Rivers state wherein successive administrations from 1999 till date have given logistical support to the judiciary to enhance the delivery and dispensation of justice in the state. The judicial environment in Rivers state in terms of infrastructure and other human resources have become an envy because of the commitment of the various administrations to always support the only hope of the common man. Today in Rivers state, we have a Court of Appeal Division with more than one seating Panel, a well equipped National Industrial Court fully functional among other resourceful judicial facilities for the benefit of our people.
3. The APC is not anti-judiciary as Ogbonna Nwuke and his known sponsors seek to portray it. Right from the federal to state levels, the APC has been committed to the support of the course of justice and its institutions in promoting the rule of Law no matter who it favours.
4. The postulations contained in the purported press statement wherein Nwuke alleged that judicial officers are manipulated in Rivers state is timid and a mockery of the temple of justice. We have on record, the wife of a former Rivers state governor who meritoriously rose to the apex Court in Nigeria. The question is: what is wrong in a woman if qualified, to rise in her career simply because she is married to a politician? We caution Mr. Nwuke and his paymasters to leave people’s wives and their families alone, as it is in their destructive habit, out of their primordial, uncivilized and outlandish type of politics that they play in Rivers state. We must remind ourselves that Rivers state is one big family irrespective of party or political differences, hence our criticism must be objective, not divisive or destructive and not borne out of hatred.
5. It is public knowledge that those who went to Court in Rivers state to challenge the high handedness and unfounded decisions of certain leaders of the party are members of APC. It was the same despotic leaders in APC which those that went to Court sough to bring to justice in a matter that got to the Supreme Court, that also sponsored their misguided followers in 2019 to physically attack the judiciary in Rivers state. It was this same act of lawlessness by these same destructive leaders that cost the APC the opportunity to field in candidates in the 2019 general election resulting in the incalculable loss and damage suffered by APC faithful in Rivers state. It is the same people who haven failed in their initial mission that are now resorting to propaganda and blackmail borne out of malice to destroy the judiciary in Rivers state since their destruction of the APC in another hand is still top on their agenda.
6. The APC in Rivers state led by Rt. Hon. Igo Aguma the Acting/Caretaker Committee Chairman, cautions this same impostor, Mr. Nwuke who continues to metamorphose in his falsehood to desist from trading with the APC in Rivers state in pursuing the toxic agenda of his paymasters. If he fails to heed the voice of wisdom, the Party will not hesitate to wield the big stick of discipline against him in line with the Party constitution.
Signed:
Livingstone Wechie (Media Adviser to the Acting/Caretaker Committee Chairman, APC Rivers State)
September 1, 2020.
