A legal practitioner in Rivers State and frontline politician in Ekpeyeland, Barrister Solomon Ebeku said his attention has been drawn to a statement by one Mr. Ojukaye Flagg- Amachree, a loyalist of the Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi currently parading himself as the chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on the Rivers state APC Crisis as “A mere academic exercise that means nothing”.
It is most unfortunate that political leaders who have benefited from the powers and processes of the courts are now at the forefront of the current attacks on the Nigerian Judiciary.
For daring to stand up for ordinary members of the APC in Rivers State who were treated by their own leadership with impunity and contempt, a leadership that collected money from party members and denied them forms and participation in the congress of their own party, the High Court of Rivers State was physically attacked, and has been described as Governor Nyesom Wike’s supermarket, Senator Abe’s pay as you go Court, and now a judgment of the Supreme Court of the land expressed a judicial decision, a mere academic exercise.
Today, Mr. Amachree moves around in Police convoy surrounded by the powers of the state and continues to parade himself as chairman of the APC in Rivers State despite the clear and unambiguous decision of the Supreme Court that the order of the Port Harcourt High Court that voided the process that produced him remains valid. Mr. Amachree and his sponsors must realize that the state itself is a creation of law, and strict adherence to the rule of law remains the only barrier to anarchy in Nigeria.
Ebeku described the attitude of Ojukaye Flagg-Amachree as most unfortunate, who in the face of an extant order of a High Court of competent jurisdiction in Rivers State which voided the illegal congresses of APC and its processes continue to parade Tonye Cole as governorship candidate of the party and himself as the party chairman in the state.
“It is this kind of recklessness, defiance and flagrant disobedience of Court orders that not only put our democracy to test, but has brought the APC to the present logjam it finds herself.
“How can those who came to power by the order of Court, turn around today not only to disobey Court orders but to vilify a process they benefitted from in the past.
“It is most unfortunate that at this level of development in our country that beneficiaries of the rule of law can describe an order of the highest Court in the land as a mere academic exercise and continue to parade themselves as pretenders to an office against which there is not only a subsisting Judgment of the High Court, but a clear opinion of the Supreme Court expressed in support of the High Court Judgment.
“I want to advise Mr. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree and Mr. Tonye Cole to stop parading themselves as chairman and Candidate of the APC in Rivers State respectively. Since they claim to have gone to appeal, we also advise them to wait for the outcome of their appeal.
“Until then, he (Flag-Amachree) and his co-travelers should learn to obey an order from a Court of competent jurisdiction in their own interest”.
Signed:
BARRISTER SOLOMON EBEKU
Legal Practitioner
Port Harcourt
October 27, 2018
