Rivers State Governor has called on Judges to be courageous in order to
achieve independence of the judiciary.
Governor Wike who made the call at a Live Television interview said
judicial independence would be hard to achieve if Judges are not
courageous and determined to uphold the tenets of the profession.
“Independence of the judiciary does not mean to have more money to go on
vacation. It is the freedom to attend to legal matters without fear or
favour.
“It is not to be teleguided on how to deliver judgement. Heads of Courts
must be able to protect fellow judges instead of succumbing to
intimidation.
“Such intimidation has gone far. Now, they use petitions and excuse of
insecurity to transfer cases out of a State or from a Judge.
“I have told my Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice to write
to the Chief Justice of Nigeria that such excuses should not be
tolerated. If they are saying that it is because of corruption it is
for them to protect their own.
“But to use insecurity to transfer a matter out of Rivers State will not
be accepted. In fact, we will sue any person who raises such an excuse
and demand proof.
“We cannot operate like that. Courts sit regularly in States like Borno,
Kaduna and Plateau where insecurity is high.
If cases cannot be heard here, then they should close down the Port
Harcourt Division of such Court”, he stated.
On the Edo Governorship Election, Governor Wike said the deployment of
over 300 policemen with Armoured Personnel Carriers to his Hotel in
Benin City was to provoke a shootout with his security aides.
He said the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, knew the nature
of the assignment he was to discharge as Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) National Campaign Council.
“They wanted that provocation to cause a shootout so that they can
target me and blame it on the crisis.
“The Inspector General’s action was premeditated because of our resolve
to legally challenge the deduction from our revenue for the Police Trust
Fund.
“He was also angry over my intervention in the attempted abduction of
the former Chairman of the Interim Management Committee of the Niger
Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joi Nunieh by some police officers
at her residence by 4am”, he said.
On the Ondo State Governorship Election, Governor Wike stated that while
the fight in Edo was against godfatherism, that of Ondo will be a vote
against failed promises by the All Progressives Congress(APC).
“To gain freedom, sacrifices will be made. Intimidation will come but
the people should be firm to defend their votes,” he stated.