Following a suit that was lodged by the African Action Congress, AAC, the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to suspend the counting of results of the Rivers State Governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The court, in a ruling by Justice Iyang Ekwo, said the electoral body should maintain status quo ante till Friday when it would hear and determine the merit of the substantive suit that was filed before it.
AAC lodged the suit alongside its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Mr. Biokpomabo Awara.
The order was sequel to an ex-parte motion the plaintiffs filed for an order to stop INEC from going ahead with its decision to count and collate pending results from 17 local government areas of the state.
INEC which earlier stopped the entire election process in Rivers State, had declared its intention to resume the collation of the results of the March 9, 2019 elections.
The decision of the electoral body to resume the collation process on Wednesday followed the report of a fact-finding committee it had set up to investigate allegations that elections in Rivers state were fraught with manifest irregularities.
Meanwhile, the court has ordered the accelerated hearing of the suit by the AAC candidate who had since asked INEC to declare him the winner, insisting that he garnered the highest number of valid votes cast.
Awara, who enjoyed the support of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, maintained that with results already on ground, he clearly defeated the incumbent Governor of the state and gubernatorial flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
Specifically, the plaintiffs, prayed the high court for an order of interim injunction restraining INEC from resuming, collating or announcing the results of the suspended elections in Rivers State.
Though the court made interim preservative order to safeguard the subject matter of the suit, it however ordered INEC to appear on Friday for hearing of the case.
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has called on Nigerians to ensure that they vote out the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government during the 2019 general election.
Wike, who made the call while speaking at the annual harvest of Christian Universal Church, Port Harcourt, said that the Nigerians must use their votes to commence the revival of the country.
The governor regretted that the APC-led Federal Government has failed to use Federal resources at her disposal to improve the lives of the people.
He said:
“At the centre, judge them by the promises they made, which they have failed to fulfill. The APC federal government cannot be trusted with another four years.
“They said that they will make one dollar to one naira. Instead, it moved from the 160 naira they met to close to 500 naira before coming down to 370 naira to a dollar.
“They claimed they will reduce the price of a litre of petrol to 42naira, but today it has risen to N145. We have the worst unemployment crisis in the country as millions have lost their jobs and the infrastructural sector has been abandoned. Nothing is working in the country.
“It is even worse because the failed APC Federal Government has allowed insecurity to claim the lives of several thousands in the Middle Belt. Several indigenes were killed in Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa States by rampaging herdsmen.”
Wike, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Chukwuemeka Woke, said that he deserves a second term because he revived a state that was crippled by the immediate past APC Administration by ensuring that the people benefit from good governance.
The governor stated that he inherited unpaid salaries and pensions, decayed infrastructure and abandoned projects, but with prudent management of resources the state ’s economy is on the right track.
He said:
“I promised to construct roads and I have constructed roads. I promised quality healthcare and I have reconstructed General Hospitals and completed Zonal hospitals. I promised to reclaim lands for the riverine communities and we have done that for many communities.
“I promised to revive the education sector and more than 300 schools across the state have felt our impact. Things can only get better in my second term.”
The governor, who thanked the Christian community for their unflinching support which has led to the success of his administration, noted that the people of Rivers State rejected the negative stories peddled by the opposition in 2015.
The Rivers State government has declared that the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi must account for the $308million that accrued from the same of state-owned gas turbine power stations towards the end of his tenure as governor of the state.
Okah said:
“The sale of the power stations and diversion of the proceeds to fund political activities of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was the reason why the Governor Amaechi government abandoned so many uncompleted projects and owed salaries and pensions to workers before he left office in 2015.
“Apart from the power assets which the former governor sold to Sahara Energy, the same company also bought the Olympia Hotel and other high value state assets under suspicious circumstances from the Governor Amaechi administration and the Justice Omereji Commission of Inquiry was asked to inquire
“The Justice Omereji Commission of Inquiry investigated the spurious sales and indicted the Minister of Transport and instead of refunding the money, the Minister rushed to court to set aside the findings of the Commission.
“He lost at the high court and at the Court of Appeal.
His appeal to the Supreme Court been abandoned because for over a year, he has failed to file a brief of argument. The reason for Tonye Dele Cole is now better explained
“Instead of explaining why he took such contagious economic steps against the State, the former governor and Minister of Transport is busy blackmailing the government of Rivers State and supporting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to disobey existing court orders and harass the Government of Rivers State and her officials.
A suspected car snatcher in Rivers State, Uche Ani, from Amuzu in Enugu State has said that hardship forced him into robbing people of their vehicles at gunpoint.
Ani, who was among nine suspected armed robbers and kidnappers arrested by the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, told newsmen that though he was a member of a non-governmental organization, living became very difficult for him.
Twelve vehicles, all Toyota brands, which were snatched from motorists in Rivers State, were recovered by the police from Ani, who the State Police Command also identified as an ex-convict, and his suspected accomplice, Andrew Atuse.
The suspect confessed that he was able to rob people of their vehicles and sell them immediately through a friend of his, Atuse, identified as a fake soldier; also arrested by FSARS.
Ani, who claimed to be studying Accounting on a part-time basis in one of the tertiary institutions in Port Harcourt, said he started snatching cars over a year ago, adding that the proceeds were used to solve some of his financial problems.
“I went into car robbery because of hardship and the devil pushed me into it. When we snatch the vehicles, we give it to him (pointing at the fake soldier) because he always posed as a soldier.
“We snatched majority of the cars in Port Harcourt. We snatched some of the vehicles at gunpoint while others were taken away where they were parked with master keys.
“The military man (fake soldier) carries the cars. It is the Army man that brought us into this business. Like I said, when we collect the cars, we give it to him (pointing at the fake soldier). I am an undergraduate,” he said.
Also speaking, Andrew Atuse, who claimed that the identification card and the Army cap he used in parading himself as a soldier were given to him by a soldier.
He confirmed that he usually received stolen vehicles from Ani and sold them, adding that he was able to use his fake identity as a soldier to achieve the feat.
“The first car they snatched after I was introduced to them (the gang); I bought the vehicle from them and resold it. One soldier assisted me by doing the Army ID card for me.
“He (soldier) also gave me a military cap. The last time I saw him was over a year ago. I don’t know how they got their guns. I have stolen eight vehicles on my own,” Atuse, who is from Edo State, added.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Zaki Ahmed, explained that apart from the stolen vehicles recovered from Ani and Atuse in the Location area of Port Harcourt, the FSARS operatives also recovered one locally-made pistol, two cartridges.
He said,
“Operatives of FSARS on 17th of July, 2018, at about 07.45 hours, acting on credible intelligence, traced two suspected armed robbers to their hideout in Ada-George, Port Harcourt, where they were arrested with military accoutrements.
“The robbers arrested are Andrew Atuse, who is a fake soldier; Uche Ani, an ex-convict. They are helping the Police in investigation and will be in court soonest.”
The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested three suspects with 7.5 kilograms of Cocaine at the Port Harcourt Port in Rivers State.
The Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, NDLEA, Joseph Nbona Sunday, who disclosed this in Port Harcourt explained that the arrest and seizure followed months of extensive surveillance and monitoring of the suspected import.
Sunday said:
“NDLEA has seized 7.5 kilograms of cocaine at the NPA Port in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. At the moment, three persons have been arrested in connection with the recovered drugs.
“This seizure followed months of extensive surveillance and monitoring of the suspected container and several days of hard-work by NDLEA personnel to locate, offload and cut through the huge mass iron bars of a tremendous thick density of pure mass of steel with a diameter of over 1ft.
“This cocaine seizure was, therefore, a product of professional management of information, hard-work, perseverance and sheer determination of the Agency and its personnel that was involved in the operation.
Sunday noted that the choice of Port Harcourt port by the suspects to smuggle the hard drugs into the country was based on perceived laxity at the port, but stated that the success of the operation was based on support from the chairman of the agency, Col. Mohammad Mustapha Abdullahi (rtd) and commitment on the side of the operatives in the state.
He said:
“It must be emphasized that this seizure is first of its kind in the existence of the NPA port in Port Harcourt. Its significance is that no entry/exit point of the country is free for illicit traffickers of drugs.
“The choice of the NPA port Port Harcourt to smuggle the seized cocaine must have been deliberate based on their observed or perceived laxity at the port but for the vigilance, dexterity and proactive disposition of the NDLEA and its personnel.”
Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers on Monday launched Rivers State Tax Management [RIVTAMIS] and issuance of Rivers State Tax Identification Number [RIVTIN] to eliminate difficulty in doing business.
The governor said at the ceremony in Port Harcourt that the adoption of the two policies was also to avert multiple taxation.
He noted that the innovations were part of the state government’s commitment of formulating ways for the ease of doing business in Rivers.
Wike stressed that the new tax reform packages would identify all formal and informal businesses in the state to help the government in planning for development.
He noted that with the digital platforms, tax payments could be made from anywhere.
“From first April 2018, all businesses are required to obtain their RIVTIN to pay taxes, levies and fines to the Rivers State Government.
“All banks have been mobilized to generate RIVTIN for all those who want to make payments to the Rivers State Government, any business that fails to comply by June 1, 2018 will be appropriately sanctioned,” Wike said.
The governor received the first RIVTIN Card from the Executive Chairman of Rivers State Internal Revenue Service, Mr Adoage Norteh, on the occasion.
Norteh said that the tax payment system had been sanitized to check multiple taxation, adding that the process would facilitate tax payment, self-service and build the revenue of the state.
“Right from the comfort of your office, you can obtain your tax clearance certificate and tax exemption,” he noted.
The chairman noted that the tax payer had a duty to reciprocate the tax friendliness of the state government.
The President of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Industry, Mr Emi Membere-Otaji, stated that the business community was satisfied with the innovations that had eliminated multiple taxation.
A spokesman for Heritage Bank, Mr Fabian Briggs promised the State Government that banks would cooperate to ensure that the programme was successful.
The highpoint of the occasion was the presentation of RIVTIN to the governor and his cabinet members.
A fake Commander of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), Kenneth Obunwa, and a fake officer of F-SARS, Oluwagbenga Abe, have been arrested in Rivers State by the authentic operatives of Akin Fakorede-led F-SARS and they will soon appear in court.
Obunwa, an indigene of Egi in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State and Abe, who hails from Ijero-Ekiti in Ekiti State, both married with children, were arrested Tuesday morning by operatives of F-SARS at Igwuruta near Port Harcourt in Ikwerre LGA of Rivers state.
A landlord in Igwuruta, Mr. John Onwaduegbo, told our reporter Tuesday evening in Port Harcourt that Obunwa and Abe, who he said introduced themselves as operatives of F-SARS, came around 9 p.m. on Monday to the house of Pastor Moses Finan and held him (Finan) and his younger brother, Silas Lohsing, hostage for some hours and extorted money from them, brandishing a machete.
Onwaduegbo insisted that he saw Obunwa with the machete, which Abe said he was always keeping in his Volkswagen Golf car, which was still at the headquarters of F-SARS in Port Harcourt, as at the time of filing this report.
Obunwa and Abe, who claimed to be members of Kaduna-based Vigilante Group of Nigeria, while separately speaking with our reporter in Port Harcourt, stated that in the last six months, they had been involved in voluntary night security job in Igwuruta, claiming to be known by the area’s monarch and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Igwuruta Divisional Police headquarters, having earlier arrested many armed robbers and other criminals in the area, who they claimed were handed over to the DPO.
Rivers Commander of F-SARS, who is also a lawyer, while speaking on the arrest, disclosed that at 7 a.m. Tuesday, F-SARS received a distress call that Obunwa and Abe, who claimed to be operatives of F-SARS, accosted Pastor Finan and his younger brother and subjected them to thorough search in their compound at Igwuruta, with undisclosed sum of money extorted from them.
Fakorede, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), who hails from Ekiti State, said: “The suspects impersonated as operatives of F-SARS and they have been doing it for a while. We quickly responded to the distress call, because the members of the public adequately utilised the distress lines that we gave. We traced the impersonators and we arrested them.
“We have a lot of miscreants who are impersonating security agents, especially F-SARS, thereby harassing, intimidating and extorting money from innocent members of the public, who ought to be very vigilant.
“I wish to admonish members of the public that whenever they find operatives of F-SARS extorting money or persons claiming to be from F-SARS, but involved in impersonation, they should please notify F-SARS through these numbers: 08054000001, 08057000002 and 08057000003, as well as Rivers State Police Command’s Control Room numbers: 08098880134 and 08032003514.”
Rivers Commander of F-SARS also disclosed that the two suspects would be thoroughly investigated and they would soon appear in court, to serve as a deterrent to other criminal-minded persons.
Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, on Friday said his administration will not tolerate any attack on non-indigenes in the state. Wike gave the warning in Port Harcourt in a state-wide broadcast to the people of the state.
“The state government will not tolerate any attack on other Nigerians living in the state by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) or any other group,” he said.
The governor said that the state belongs to all residents and those doing legal businesses in it.
“The state heartily welcomes any Nigerian who resides in the state and carries out his or her lawful businesses,’’ the governor said.
He said that the deliberate sabotage of the state’s security architecture by men of the Rivers Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) was condemnable.
Wike said that the state government is deeply concerned with the recent activities of IPOB in Rivers.
The governor said that his administration is particularly worried by the attack on some Nigerian citizens living in the state.
“Rivers people fully subscribe to Nigeria’s corporate existence and its indivisibility, as a people we shall continue to support the unity and peaceful co-existence of all ethnic nationalities,’’ he said.
He said that the people of the state will continue to work towards actualizing the collective aspirations for a just, inclusive and progressive Nigeria.
“We shall not tolerate any attack by any group on other Nigerians living in Oyigbo or any other part of the state,” Wike said.
He warned troublemakers, who were bent on causing violence in the state, to steer clear of Rivers’ territory.
“Nobody should take our hospitality and peaceful disposition for weakness as we are capable of dealing decisively with any situation that threatens peace and serenity in the state,” he said.
The governor urged Rivers’ people to be vigilant and desist from being used by anybody to foment trouble in Rivers.
“Do not hesitate to report any suspicious character or movements around your vicinity to the law enforcement agencies for immediate action,” he said.
Wike said that dialogue and not violence remained the best way to resolve contending political issues in the country.
He called on the Federal Government to initiate meaningful national dialogue to peacefully resolve the structural challenges threatening Nigeria’s stability and progress.
“In the same vein, we urge the security agencies to exercise maximum restraint and conform to international rules of engagement and best practice, while responding to provocative acts from ill-advised groups.”
The governor said that his administration had been receiving reports from traumatized victims who had been robbed of their valuables by SARS Operatives under the guise of conducting searches.
“They employ several malevolent methods including planting illicit drugs on their unsuspecting victims as bargaining chip or forcefully taking them to ATM boots to collect specified amount of money as ransom for their freedom,” he said.
He said that some rescued victims had reportedly pointed SARS operatives as the ones that were responsible for most of the kidnappings along East-West road in the state.
Wike reassured the people of the state of the commitment of his administration to work with the security agencies to ensure the safety and security of lives and property across the state.
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