The 22 local government chairmen in Rivers State, who came to power in controversial council polls conducted by the then Governor Chibuike Amaechi, were yesterday given the boot.
The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt nullified the elections of the 22 local government chairmen and councillors on the grounds that their emergence violated a court order.
The court judgement was delivered amid scare that the court premises were to be bombed; a claim the police dismissed yesterday. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed a suit seeking the court’s nod to declare illegal the conduct of the local government elections held on May 23, 2015. In his judgement, Justice Lambo Akanbi declared that the conduct of the council elections by Amaechi was illegal and that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) disobeyed the court by conducting the elections after they had been challenged in court.
He said there was a pre-election case in which he delivered judgement on and that the conduct of the May 23 elections by RSIEC was an “abuse of the law,” as the court had asked all parties in the matter to maintain status quo. The court said it dissolved the 22 councils in a bid to defend and protect democracy.
The judgement came after the 22 council chairmen withdrew from the case and took it to the National Industrial Court, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in a bid to restrain the governor and the State House of Assembly from dissolving them. The 22 council chairmen under the auspices of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) had accused Justice Akanbi of receiving N1 million bribe to “unjustly remove them” from office. With the judgement, only Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Council is not affected, because it has a different political calendar with the chairmen and councillors’ tenure expiring in 2016. It is the only council that has an elected council in place.
Reacting to the judgement, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Davies Ikanya, said it was “sad and unfortunate” for a court to dissolve well-constituted local government councils as duly elected by Rivers people barely a month ago.
“This notwithstanding, we will study this unfortunate development and unholy judgement and appeal against it as it is a judgement against the people of Rivers State,” he stated. His PDP counterpart, Mr. Felix Obuah, welcomed the judgement, saying: “The court has, once more, strengthened the confidence and trust of the people in the Nigerian judiciary as the last hope of the common man.”
He added that the judgement had vindicated the party’s position that “there was no council election in the state.” Earlier, there was a bomb scare outside the court shortly before Justice Akanbi delivered the judgement. A bag containing explosive devices was said to have been discovered outside the court premises by security operatives, who according to sources, had acted on a tip-off. The security agents evacuated the bag and prevented an explosion from taking place. But the spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command, Mr. Ahmad Mohammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), refuted the claim.
Mohammad, in a statement, said: “For the purpose of clarity, a security man of the court, around 5:30 am, observed and raised the alarm that a Hilux vehicle belonging to the court and parked in the premises was on fire. The fire minimally torched the rear tyre of the vehicle before it was extinguished. “It is, therefore, untrue that there was an explosion at the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt today, Thursday, 09th July, 2015.
The activities of the Federal High Court Port Harcourt went smoothly, there was no disruption or apparent threat to public peace and property. “Relatively, the command has received intelligence (report) that some persons are planning disturbance of public peace in reaction to the judgement of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt concerning local government councils.
The command warns that disturbance of public peace, manifest and brazen acts of threat, violence and brigandage still constitute offences under our laws.
We shall, therefore, deal decisively with any breaches of public peace in accordance with our laws.” The police urged members of the public to go about their normal businesses without fear of molestation and called on parents to restrain their children from being used to foment trouble.
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