Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is of the most popular beneficiaries of the judicial process in the history of the nation’s democracy. In 2007, the Supreme Court courageously proclaimed Amaechi Governor of Rivers State following an illegality done to him in the PDP Pre-Election K-Leg saga.
That was the last time Amaechi was associated with legality. Since then, he has turned his back on the judicial process, acting against the judiciary and celebrating impunity with careless abandon.
Nigerians can easily recall the most regrettable manner Amaechi unleashed a campaign of calumny against the Supreme Court after the apex court upheld the election of Governor Wike.
He sponsored newspaper adverts, documentaries and social media placements. He engaged all manner of shady characters to malign the apex and impugn the legal process.
Thereafter, came the contrived Rivers Legislative Rerun elections. Amaechi was handed the deadly Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the armed forces by the APC Federal Government to unleash mayhem on Rivers people. These goons spilled the blood of Rivers people, stole their mandate and battered the image of the state.
Working alongside the police, Amaechi and the police introduced fake result sheets with which they cooked scores for the Rivers East Senatorial District. This denied the people their mandate. Amaechi’s crony was imposed on them.
Basking in the euphoria of electoral impunity, Amaechi bestrode the landscape with reckkess disrespect for established norms. Armed with dozens of SARS and military personnel, Amaechi disrupted due process at will. At one point, he blocked the governor’s right of way and knocked down his traffic outridder.
His disdain for the legal process is shocking. Whenever he hears that someone has approached the courts for reliefs, he flies into murderous rampage.
At the close of his 8-year disastrous and treacherous sojourn at the Government House Port Harcourt, Amaechi in flagrant disrespect of a valid court order, conducted the now court-rejected Local Government Elections.
This he did after he had closed the Rivers State High Court for two years and shut the doors of the Rivers State House of Assembly for over a year. It was under the leadership of Amaechi that the Rivers State House of Assembly sat in the dinning hall of the Government House.
One would have thought that is blatant love for illegality would have ended with his ill-fated dealings with the PDP and the incumbent Rivers State Government. But no, the love for illegality is innate.
The unending crisis of Rivers APC is now common knowledge. But before you ask, “wetin concern you”, let me quickly inform you that we are all political animals. Therefore, permit me to “poke my nose”, in this matter.
From available facts as confirmed by the courts, Amaechi and his cohorts deliberately refused to conduct Rivers APC Ward Congresses. They went ahead to cook results. When aggrieved members led by Ibrahim Imah obtained a court injunction to stop the Local Government and State Congresses, Amaechi disregarded the court and went ahead with his illegality.
He brought his associate who is standing murder trial and imposed him on a faction of the party. Similarly, he co-opted his business partner as the factional gubernatorial candidate of his party and foisted a man with attempted murder charge as the Campaign Manager of the faction. Every single step was covered with a nauseating doze of Illegality.
But the courts have maintained that this illegality cannot stand. They have demolished all the illegal structures erected on the political landscape by the rampaging ex-governor. As it stands now, the party has no executives and candidates for the forthcoming elections.
The tragedy of this matter is the way the former governor has continued to sponsor media attacks on the legal process and his opponents.
He has refused to submit himself to the rule of law. Rather, Amaechi thinks he can stampede Rivers State into submission through scar tactics. His hatchet man being Rivers SARS Commander, Mr Akin Fakorede.
There is no proof that Amaechi has used the advantage of his office to promote Rivers State. As a Minister of Transportation, the entire South-South has no project. The only recognisable project, the airport terminal was funded and initiated by the Jonathan administration. Under Amaechi, the Rivers ports directly under the Ministry of Transportation have been abandoned .
However, the reality of Rivers State is that it has been blessed with a leader who defends her interest. Therefore, Amaechi’s love for illegality will not gain ascendancy in Rivers State. Amaechi will continue to fail at every turn. Each time he tries to de-market Rivers State, the state will grow stronger.
Just like the courts played a key role in his political growth, so will the courts nail his political coffin. The time is near.
