Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has urged the state High Courts to respect and abide by the provisions of the Electoral Act, especially as the 2023 general elections draw nearer.
The new electoral act prohibits State High Courts from handling pre-election or electoral matters, even as the governor said some State High Courts are already acting in contravention to this law.
This is just as the governor claimed that those who are accusing the judiciary of being corrupt are also not clean.
Wike spoke during a state banquet organised at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Monday in honour of Justice Mary Odili on her 70th birthday and retirement from the Supreme Court.
Media aide to the governor, Kelvin Ebiri, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen.
“The truth is that the Electoral Act says anything about pre-election or electoral matters is now to be decided by the Federal High Court,” Wike stated.
However, the governor noted that those who accuse the judiciary in Nigeria of being corrupt are not clean themselves.
He added that while corruption in the judiciary undermines courts’ credibility, those quick at throwing tantrums at the judiciary, particularly legal practitioners, are also guilty.
“For me, those abusing the judiciary of corruption, their hands are not clean.
“But, that does not also mean that even you in the judiciary should not keep your house in order,” he added.
Wike said he would remain grateful to Odili for creating the opportunity for him to meet her husband and former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, when he ventured into active politics in 1998.
He stated that there had been no politician serving at the federal or state levels since 1999 that would deny that they did not pass through the tutelage of Dr. Odili.
Wike said that despite the generosity of Dr. Odili and his family, some of those they had helped politically have betrayed and humiliated them.
“I have never seen a man who has suffered humiliation. I have never seen a man who has suffered betrayal in life like Dr. Odili,” Governor Wike added.
He explained that Dr. Odili’s insistence that someone from the Ikwerre extraction should succeed him as governor in 2007 earned him some enemies.
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