A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Onueze Chukwujinka Okocha, has said Nyesom Wike has not played any role in the Rivers State local government election crisis.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Okocha, said it would be wrong to attribute the crisis to the former Rivers State governor, Wike.
Okocha, in an interview with Channels TV, on Friday, stated that anyone accusing the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of playing the cards in the council election crisis had been misinformed.
“The Minister of the FCT is not a party in this case. Why should anybody be calling his name? The issues involved are issues of law and have nothing to do with personalities.
“The parties involved are institutions, All Progressives Congress (APC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, Attorney General of Rivers State, Government of Rivers State and the State Security Services.
“People should move away from parochialism and casting aspersions on individuals to score cheap political points,” Okocha said.
The former NBA president called on Governor Siminalaya Fubara to obey court orders and call off the council election slated for today (Saturday).
He noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) refusal to submit the voters’ register to Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the Police statement that personnel would not participate in the election were enough for the Governor to call off the election.
“The way forward is for the State Independent Electoral Commission, the Governor of Rivers State represented by the Attorney General of Rivers State to obey the order of the court.
“INEC has said that we have not given them register, we will not give them in compliance with the order of the court.
“The Inspector General of Police speaking through the police spokesman in Rivers State has said we will obey the order of the court and will not provide security for the election,” Okocha added.