Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has approved the resolution of the House of Assembly that Sir Celestine Omehia should get derecognised as a former governor.
Omehia was governor for 150 days (May 29 to October 25, 2007) before he was sacked by the Suprene Court in 2007, paving the way for Rotimi Amaechi, the then Speaker, to become the governor.
“In the eye of the law, the appellant (Amaechi) remains the candidate of the PDP and is deemed to have won the election and should be so sworn in immediately”, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, who read the unanimous decision of the seven-man panel of Supreme Court justices that sacked Omehia as Rivers state governor, submitted on October 25, 2007.
Amaechi and Omehia are cousins.
With Wike’s approval of the resolution, Omehia will no longer be addressed as ‘His Excellency’ while he will also kiss accruable rights and benefits goodbye.
It is believed Omehia is one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains from Rivers State supporting the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and former National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, against Wike.
Wike signed the resolution at the Executive Council Chambers of the Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt on Friday after it was presented to him by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Zacchaeus Adangor.
The Assembly during a plenary session on Thursday had reversed the decision taken seven years ago, and declared that Omehia should henceforth not be recognised as a former governor.
The governor noted on Friday that he had always respected resolutions of the House of Assembly and had never had any reason to disagree with the parliament.
‘Yesterday (Thursday), I received a resolution from the Assembly derecognizing Sir Celestine Omehia, who had enjoyed the privileges of a former governor of the state.
“But you will recollect that sometime in 2007/2008, my predecessor, His Excellency Chibuike Amaechi, did not recognize Sir Celestine Omehia as a former governor of the state.
“When we came on board, there were issues and the Assembly felt that, having served as a governor, he should enjoy the status of a former governor. I’ve always respected the resolutions of the Assembly. I’ve never for one day disagreed with anything the Assembly has sent to me’ he said.
Wike noted that the strength of information currently available to the House of Assembly compelled it to reverse the decision taken in 2015.
“The leader of the House said they have better facts and what are the facts? The facts are that the Supreme Court judgement categorically stated that Sir Celestine Omehia was never a governor, because he never stood for any election and that it will be inappropriate for their (Assembly) legacy that they didn’t respect the judgement of the Supreme Court.
“In this part of the country, people will praise you when it suits them, but when you do the uncommon thing, people will not praise you.
“I had to call the Attorney General for him to give me his legal opinion with regard to the resolution of the Assembly, and rightly the Attorney General said they (Assembly) are right.
“That in the first instance, the recognition was extra-judicial; that the Assembly has no power to change the judgement of any court, let alone that of the Supreme Court. So, people should understand and not begin to play politics’ he added.
