By Bayo Etema
The apex Ijaw socio-cultural Organisation, the Ijaw National Council (INC) has chided Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for trying to intimidate and threatened Ijaw indigenes in the state from exercising their constitutional rights to contest the next year governorship election in the state.
The INC condemned what it termed as ‘kangaroo arraignment and crude detention’ of a prominent Rivers Ijaw son and member representing Degema-Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Farah Dagogo, on the orders of Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike.
The body demanded the immediate release of the politician within 48 hours in the interest of peace, justice and fairness.
The President of INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, in a statement on Saturday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said that every Ijaw indigenes from Rivers State is as eminently qualified as any other Rivers man or woman to contest for the office of governor on the platform of the PDP.
He noted that by this current shenanigans, Governor Wike has exposed his pangs to underscore his disdain for an Ijaw successor as Governor in Rivers State.
He said: “The Ijaw National Congress (INC) with disgust condemns the kangaroo arraignment and crude detention of a prominent Rivers Ijaw son and member representing Degema-Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Farah Dagogo, on the orders of Rivers State behemoth, Governor Nyesom Wike. We wish to condemn, in most unequivocal terms, that Hon. Farah Dagogo’s continued detention without conviction in a court of law is a clear violation of his fundamental human rights.
“The illegal arrest and detention of Hon. Farah Dagogo, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is an orchestrated design by the Governor Wike’s administration to persecute the Ijaws who are resolved to come together to contest the governorship of Rivers State. May we ask: when did the constitutionally guaranteed right to contest an election become a crime?
“As a former Minister of State in the President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal administration, did the then Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who had become an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, threaten or ever arrested and illegally detained Governor Wike even though they were at loggerheads? When did Rivers State become the private empire of Governor Wike that indigenes need permission from him to decide their individual political future?
“ What on earth justifies this premeditated political onslaught against Hon. Farah Dagogo and the Rivers Ijaws? Was the mission essentially to deny him screening so that he would not have a chance to contest the governorship election against other opponents?
“Governor Wike should be reminded that the beauty of democracy underscores free contest and not imposition. He is not an emperor and, therefore, cannot single-handedly dictate a successor against globally accepted democratic tenets.
“We have it on good authority that Hon. Farah Dagogo’s health has deteriorated as a result of his ordeal in the hands of Governor Wike. He is said to be suffering from chest and stomach complications. Let Governor Wike realise that the Ijaw nation is watching. Nothing should happen to Hon. Farah Dagogo.
“The INC, hereby, demands the immediate release of Hon. Farah Dagogo from incarceration within 48 hours. As a lawyer, Governor Wike knows that his trumped up charges against Hon. Farah Dagogo are bailable.
“If Governor Wike thinks he has legitimate charges to convict him, he should allow the due process of the law to take its legitimate course. Release Hon. Farah Dagogo in the interest of peace, justice and fairness, to enable him pursue his political ambition, to which he is constitutionally entitled.” He said.