By far one of the most controversial gubernatorial elections in the country during the last elections, there had been doubts about whether Mr Wike would be sworn-in with his colleagues due to the cloud hanging over his case. Outgoing Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi had gone to court to get a restraining order, barring a swearing-in pending the determination of several suits.
In addition, Rivers State does not currently have a chief judge, so there would be no one to swear Mr Wike in but yesterday, the attorney-general of the federation Mr Mohammed Adoke, asked the Bayelsa State chief judge to do the honours. With both matters now resolved, Mr Wike is due to assume office on May 29, although the All Progressives Congress (APC) is still challenging his victory at the election tribunal.
Yesterday, a federal high court sitting in Owerri, Imo State, struck out a suit instituted by Governor Amaechi asking it the court to stop the inauguration of Mr Wike and the deputy governor-elect Dr Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, on May 29. Presiding judge, Justice SM Shuaibu, struck out the matter on the grounds that his court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
Reacting to the ruling, Felix Obuah, the chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), praised the judiciary for rising up to the occasion as the true hope of the common man. He noted that Governor Amaechi was a creation of the judiciary as a court judgment put him in office, adding however, that the governor had shown only one agendum since he came to power, which was ridiculing and destroying the judiciary.
Mr Obuah said: “The PDP expresses gratitude to the judiciary over the failure of Amaechi and the APC, through his attorney-general, to secure judgment in the matter through the back door, which it believes would have truncated the democratic process in the state. For us, the Owerri Federal High Court judgment clearing way for the inauguration of the PDP government and swearing-in of the governor-elect, Wike, on May 29 has further strengthened our hope and conviction that no matter the distractions and destructive tendencies of the out-going Amaechi-led administration in the state, the PDP government under Wike will still succeed."
This favourable judgement came just after Mr Adoke directed the chief judge of Bayelsa State to swear-in Mr Wike as governor of Rivers State to avert a likely constitutional crisis in the state. He added this the swearing-in should go ahead as Mr Wike was declared winner of the Rivers State governorship election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission on April 11.
Mr Adoke said: “In order to avert a likely constitutional crisis in Rivers State on May 29 when the governor-elect is expected to be sworn in as governor of Rivers State, I have requested the chief judge of Bayelsa State to administer the oath of allegiance and oath of office on the governor-elect of Rivers State in accordance with section 185(2) of the Constitution 1999, which provides as follows: The oath of allegiance and the oath of office shall be administered by the chief judge of the state or grand khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the state, if any, or president of the Customary Court of Appeal of the state, if any, or the person for the time being respectively appointed to exercise the functions of any of those offices in any state."
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