Governor Wike at the demolition site
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike received more knocks on Monday for demolishing two major hotels in Eleme.
Among the people that flayed his action is a former Senator Magnus Abe, and owner of one the bulldozed hotels, Promise Gogorodari. The second hotel, Edemeteh, was located in Onne, also in Eleme Local Government Area.
But Wike justified his action, accusing Gogorodari of sending thugs led by the wanted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Youth Leader in Eleme Local Government Area, Princewill Osaroejiji, to inflict serious injury on some members of the state COVID-19 task force.
The governor also took a swipe at those he called “uninformed critics and social media legal practitioners” for criticising the demotion which, according to him, was done “in good faith” and backed by Executive Orders,
But Abe, who once represented Rivers Southeast Senatorial District at the National Assembly, warned that Wike’s “draconian measures’’ were capable of jeopardising the fight against COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in the state.
He said: “The demolition and action of private property, the closure of all sources of survival for citizens of Rivers State without due consideration to their means of sustenance in the name of the battle against COVID-19, are draconian measures that will prove counterproductive in the long run.”
Abe pointed out that even in times of physical warfare, the actions of the governor amounted to commission of war crimes.
He added: “The Rivers State war against COVID-19 at the present rate runs the risk of dividing the state into two distinct camps: Supporters and opponents.”
The Nation
