[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Nyesom Wike, is a lawyer, which should be an added advantage to birth good governance. The Governor also has a reliable partner as a judicial officer, so that both in the office and at home, the law is following the Governor and it is written all over him.
But the story of Rivers State in recent times has become a major worry for all lovers of the rule of law and democracy. From the arbitrary arrest of pilots and oil workers to the closure of State boundaries and now an executive order to auction all vehicles alleged to have violated the lockdown order of the Governor, it has been one case of illegality to another.
The Constitution grants the unfettered right to property and it cannot be circumscribed without following the due process of law. The Rivers State Governor has no legal right in law to confiscate the property of citizens by executive fiat. Surely, two wrongs cannot make a right.
I urge the good people of Rivers State to stand up to every form of lawlessness and arbitrariness and defend their rights under the Constitution.
The People’s Democratic Party will be living in condemnable hypocrisy if it claims to be in opposition to the ruling party but cannot correct the excesses of its own leaders.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa is a human rights lawyer who is a member of the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association; chairman of the Justice Sector Reform Programme Commission of the African Bar Association and patron of the Nigerian Bar Association, Okitipupa Branch.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
