…Says Action ‘An Act of Vendetta’<\/p>\n
The chairman of Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), Owerri branch, Barr. Lawrence
\nNwakaeti, has carpeted Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo state for
\ndestroying the property belonging to the former minister of Interior,
\nCapt. Emmanuel Iheanacho for the second time under the guise of urban
\nrenewal project embarked upon by his government in Owerri capital city.<\/p>\n
Nwakaeti, who stated in an interview, described the act as ‘petty’ adding
\nthat such action has proven that Okorocha is on vendetta mission against
\nthe former minister and business tycoon who also contested the
\ngovernorship during the last general elections.<\/p>\n
He said: “I wouldn\u2019t hold brief for Iheanacho; but I was meant to believe
\nthat he went to court to stop government from demolishing his property.
\nThe argument of the government is that the order was not served on them as
\nat the time they demolished the property. But after demolishing, while
\ngoing petty? The man wanted to brace-up his house so that he can access
\nhis house, and you send your boys to go and destroy it as if you are
\nmobilising thugs to harass people. People now see it as if the governor is
\nsettling political scores considering the fact that the man contested
\nagainst him in the last governorship election.<\/p>\n
“There are certain things as a leader you forgo, he\u2019s not challenging or
\nsaying he\u2019s the governor of Imo state. The election has come and gone and
\nthe governor should play the role of a father. It is not fair to go back
\nand destroy that fence for the second time. What I understand he wanted to
\ndo was to brace-up, raise the front so that he can access his house. That
\nwas an act of vendetta and it should not have come from somebody as highly
\nplaced as the governor”.<\/p>\n
While condemning the growing impunity, lawlessness and disregard to rule
\nof law as exhibited by Gov. Okorocha, the NBA boss warned that the
\ngovernor’s behaviour if not checkmated may trigger off crisis capable of
\ndegenerating to state of emergency in the state.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s not only that the governor does not obey court orders, he does not
\nobey institutions and rule of law. He has no respect for due process. The
\nother time he woke up in the morning and dissolved Imo State Judicial
\nCommission. This is a body set up pursuant to Section 199 of the 1999
\nConstitution and the tenure of office of the Judicial Service Commission
\nmembers is five years. And the current members who are purportedly
\ndissolved came into office sometime in March 2014. So by simple arithmetic
\nthey should be in office till sometime 2019 but the governor woke up one
\nmorning and dissolved them.<\/p>\n
“The constitution clearly spelt out reasons and situations that warrants
\nremoval of office of members of Judicial Service Commission. One of them
\nis misconduct, or when it is established that there is infirmity of mind
\nor body of the person and you must established these facts. For you to say
\nsomebody is infirm mentally or bodily, there must be a medical
\ncertification to that effect. For you to establish that somebody is guilty
\nof a conduct, it must be a fact a committee of enquiry has been set up and
\nthat person has been indicted. When you don\u2019t do any of these things and
\nyou wake up one morning decree out of existence a body that was set up by
\nlaw, NBA will say no. We have called on him to rescind the decision in the
\ninterest of peace, democracy and rule of law. We will make sure that the
\ngovernment of the state reverses to the status the quo” he said.<\/p>\n
On the the governor’s touted urban renewal project under the guise many
\nbuildings have been demolished in Owerri capital city without prior
\nconsent and compensation to the owners, Nwaketi posited that the governor
\nsimply misplaced his priority especially in the face of the present
\neconomic recession.<\/p>\n
“What is happening in Imo State is not Okorocha\u2019s making in terms of
\nfinancial status of Imo State. Generally, there is recession and I think
\nwhere Imo State is affected adversely is the area that this government
\ndoes not plan, does not manage the meagre resources very well. And as a
\nresult the poor people, the civil servants are receiving the full blow of
\nthe recession which shouldn\u2019t have been.<\/p>\n
Something should have been on the ground to cushion the effect on the civil
\nservants, who are the most vulnerable. But because of wasteful spending,
\nlike what we call expansion of road, is not necessary.\u00a0 The people that
\nwill enjoy this road must be alive to enjoy it. A civil servant that
\ncannot feed his family, that cannot pay his rent, you cannot expect him to
\nenjoy that road. The money used in expanding already double lane roads
\nshould have been used to pay civil servants” the lawyer posited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
…Says Action ‘An Act of Vendetta’ The chairman of Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), Owerri branch, Barr. Lawrence Nwakaeti, has carpeted Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo state for destroying the property…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n