Governor Nyesom Wike on Sunday asserted it was not out of place for the Ikwerre nation to always stand with former Governor, Peter Odili, and his family in Rivers state because of how well his love for the Ikwerres has positively impacted their lives.
Wike during the Thanksgiving at St. Philip’s Anglican Church, Elibrada, Emohua Local Government Area, to mark the appointment of Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi as Chief Judge of Rivers, also expressed the divine confidence that anyone determined to pull down his administration would always fail.
The Governor acknowledged the role played by Dr Peter Odili, who appointed the current Chief Judge then as Judge of the State High Court, and also ensured that Ikwerre produced Governors for Rivers State.
On the futility of partisan antagonism against him, he noted that, “Recently, there was some crises in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Everybody involved, that plotted everything for my downfall, all are out. Everyone, that slept, went to a meeting, planning how to bring me down, not one survived.”
The governor alluded that a similar plot was contrived when former Chief Judge of the State, Justice Adama Iyayi-Lamikanra was to be appointed and that the plot also ended in failure.
He told the current Chief Judge, “When your predecessor, (Justice Iyayi-Lamikanra) was appointed, you have said people came to you to say she’s not from Rivers. Such people are enemies of the State. That is why this country cannot move forward.
“Somebody has put his or her life serving the State all through her career, making sure the State moves forward, and at the time of benefits, you say the person is not from your State. But all the services rendered were for the interest of your State.
“When your predecessor was appointed, people started to conspire, started to plot against my government.
“Your colleagues, some of them started conspiring. I said, well, what will be will be. I know the God that made me governor. Nobody will survive plotting downfall of my government. Nobody will survive it.”
According to Wike, when Justice Iche Ndu retired as the Chief Judge of the State, the judiciary was plunged into crisis, resulting in the shutting down of the court for some years, that even when the State did not have a substantive Chief Judge, billions of Naira were signed off steadily in the State judiciary.
He narrated, “And so the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has to set up a committee to investigate it because there was no Chief Judge, but look at the record, billions were being spent. Who is responsible for this expenditure?
“You can’t believe it, some registrars were using that opportunity to make money. You can’t believe the kind of houses people at that level could build within that period, and they were found guilty.
“Someone who believes he or she will be the next Chief Judge had to interfere with that investigation, and security picked it up.
“Simply because some of them are from same community and she said, when I become Chief Judge I will set aside that indictment by the Judicial Service Commission, security picked it up. That was how you (Justice Amadi) became the Chief Judge.”
Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi in his thanksgiving remarks acknowledged that God uses men to accomplish His will and Governor Wike was God’s instrument to make his appointment as Chief Judge possible.
