Much to my surprise, I read a treatise in reaction to the Hon. Victoria Wobo Nyeche’s non inclusion in the oath administration exercise of the Rivers State 8th Assembly on the 21st day of April 2016 by Dame Aleruchi Cookey-Gam, the erstwhile first female Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Rivers State (1999-2003); first female Secretary to the Rivers State Government and pioneer Administrator, Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority.
Ma, all due respect accorded to you, I beg to differ. Whilst you rightly defined impersonation as the act of pretending to be someone else with intent to defraud another, and went further to state that impersonation is a criminal offence under section 484 of our criminal code, you forgot to note also that if someone lays claim to hold or occupy an office or position he or she does not hold, that person is guilty of impersonation whether or not such position or office is reserved for him or her.
So you asked “can a person be said to impersonate herself?” and my answer is No and Yes! No because Mr. Peter for example cannot impersonate being Mr. Peter, but Mr. Peter can impersonate being Mr. Peter the owner of Port Harcourt International airport. Whereas he is Mr. Peter, he is not the owner of the airport he is laying claim to and so to that extent, he has impersonated and may I say that this is a no-brainer.
As to whether Hon. Victoria Nyeche impersonated or not is a matter before a competent court of jurisdiction so I will rather resist the temptation of dabbling into that discussion, as it will amount to subjudice. But I know as a matter of fact that until an elected legislator has duly sworn to the oaths of office and allegiance to the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, such legislator cannot partake on an official level or carry out any legislative or oversight functions of the House, as he or she is not an Honorable member of the house but a member-elect.
Ma, you were also interested in knowing Mr. Livingstone Wechie’s locus in this issue and if indeed Hon. Victoria carried out the act of impersonation how it affects or cause injury to him amongst others.
Well Ma, as much as I’m not interested in holding brief for Mr. Livingstone, I daresay that Mr. Livingstone is a free citizen of Nigeria, an indigene of Rivers State and one of the very active and vocal spokesperson of Civil Liberties Organization, and just like every one of us who sees what could be a misgiving, reserves the right for personal interest or in the interest of the public to seek redress in court, owing to the fact that whatever laws Hon. Victoria is going to make in the Assembly will directly or indirect affect him or the people whose interest he and his organization strives to protect.
As to the question whether the Police has carried out investigation; whether she has been found guilty of impersonation is neither here nor there as it wasn’t a Court Judgment that stopped the Assembly from administering the oath on her but a Court Order, the main suit is still pending. Whereas no body was sentenced, rather the court in it’s wisdom ordered all defendants / respondents to maintain status quo pending the hearing of a motion on notice for an order of Interlocutory Injunction brought before it by Livingstone.
You adjudged that RVHA was reduced to a 9 member house sometime in 2015 and as such could no longer seat as it had no quorum. You went further to question the legality of the same 9 member house screening and confirmation of the then Acting Chief Judge now Chief Judge of Rivers State, Hon. Justice Adanma Iyayi-Laminkara. Worthy of note is that Hon. Victoria Nyeche shares in this same sentiment, which ensued to the “impersonation letter” and Livingstone’s suit afterwards.
The question whether 9 can form quorum or not is subject to constitutional interpretation, however, assuming but not conceding that 9 can’t form quorum, on what terra firma then is Hon. Victoria Nyeche seeking to be sworn in? Is she saying that 9 cannot seat and screen the Chief Judge but 9 can seat and swear her in? Wouldn’t that also culminate to “legislative recklessness and violation of the provision of the constitutional provisions” as you alluded? She cannot approbate and probate at the same time.
Interestingly you asked and I quote, “Was Hon. Victoria Nyeche as a duly elected member of the House justified in formally notifying the Chief Justice of Nigeria of the acts of Legislative recklessness and violations of the constitutional provisions as to the lack of quorum and its consequences? Can this exercise of her rights as a duly elected member be said to have given rise to the so-called impersonation? End of quote.
I daresay that there is nothing wrong with the exercise of notifying appropriate authorities of a perceived misgiving. But the pertinent question we must ask ourselves and learn from is that, on what capacity was the petition from Hon. Victoria to the CJN written? Who did she write as? Did she write as member-elect or as a member? The message might be right, but what about the messenger or the vessel? It can’t always be a case of “it’s not the messenger but the message”; not when the messenger is deemed to have committed an act in breach of the Constitution or criminal code whilst passing the message. We do not celebrate but admonish a pregnant 15 years old unmarried girl child simply because pregnancy and indeed childbirth is a blessing.
I disagree in strong terms your assertion that Rivers State is lying prostate and bleeding, as it is diversionary and in dear contradiction to the realities on ground. The state is working and making remarkable and unprecedented progress amidst internal and external interference and economic challenges occasioned by the sharp and continues decline of Naira value and dwindling federal allocation to the state. Evident to this are the monumental up-spring of infrastructure and steady increase in the IGR of the state. Thanks to the doggedness and political will of Governor Nyesom Wike.
Ma, Hon. Victoria Nyeche is a politician; her election and the subsequent tribunal and appeal court processes and of cause Rulings are processes of the election and in turn politics. It’s all politics and so the question of “politicizing everything” shouldn’t have even arisen in the first place, as you cannot politicize what is already politics ab initio.
It is misleading and grossly unfair for anyone today to say that “governance is abandoned while energy is dissipated in needless controversies and political turmoil”. While in truth and reality what we see everyday and indeed everywhere in Rivers State are scores of infrastructural development ongoing and completed within the first one year of an administration faced with unending high and mighty internal and external forces of impediments. Forces so powerful that it can deploy at will an entire Army Barack to descend on innocent and unsuspecting citizens going about their legitimate businesses or trying to exercise their civic and constitutional responsibilities. Invading and destroying their homes and properties; kidnapping and killing their fathers, pregnant mothers and children.
Indeed the media and specially the new media space remains open and awash with all manner of propaganda, misinformation and distorted information by a greater number our political players and populace, I do hope and pray that the respected but paltry characters whose integrity are still not mutilated or redeemable do not give it all away on the alter of political patronage or in a bid to fanning the flames of a wildfire ego of their master.
Ma, all due respect accorded to you, I beg to differ. Whilst you rightly defined impersonation as the act of pretending to be someone else with intent to defraud another, and went further to state that impersonation is a criminal offence under section 484 of our criminal code, you forgot to note also that if someone lays claim to hold or occupy an office or position he or she does not hold, that person is guilty of impersonation whether or not such position or office is reserved for him or her.
So you asked “can a person be said to impersonate herself?” and my answer is No and Yes! No because Mr. Peter for example cannot impersonate being Mr. Peter, but Mr. Peter can impersonate being Mr. Peter the owner of Port Harcourt International airport. Whereas he is Mr. Peter, he is not the owner of the airport he is laying claim to and so to that extent, he has impersonated and may I say that this is a no-brainer.
As to whether Hon. Victoria Nyeche impersonated or not is a matter before a competent court of jurisdiction so I will rather resist the temptation of dabbling into that discussion, as it will amount to subjudice. But I know as a matter of fact that until an elected legislator has duly sworn to the oaths of office and allegiance to the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, such legislator cannot partake on an official level or carry out any legislative or oversight functions of the House, as he or she is not an Honorable member of the house but a member-elect.
Ma, you were also interested in knowing Mr. Livingstone Wechie’s locus in this issue and if indeed Hon. Victoria carried out the act of impersonation how it affects or cause injury to him amongst others.
Well Ma, as much as I’m not interested in holding brief for Mr. Livingstone, I daresay that Mr. Livingstone is a free citizen of Nigeria, an indigene of Rivers State and one of the very active and vocal spokesperson of Civil Liberties Organization, and just like every one of us who sees what could be a misgiving, reserves the right for personal interest or in the interest of the public to seek redress in court, owing to the fact that whatever laws Hon. Victoria is going to make in the Assembly will directly or indirect affect him or the people whose interest he and his organization strives to protect.
As to the question whether the Police has carried out investigation; whether she has been found guilty of impersonation is neither here nor there as it wasn’t a Court Judgment that stopped the Assembly from administering the oath on her but a Court Order, the main suit is still pending. Whereas no body was sentenced, rather the court in it’s wisdom ordered all defendants / respondents to maintain status quo pending the hearing of a motion on notice for an order of Interlocutory Injunction brought before it by Livingstone.
You adjudged that RVHA was reduced to a 9 member house sometime in 2015 and as such could no longer seat as it had no quorum. You went further to question the legality of the same 9 member house screening and confirmation of the then Acting Chief Judge now Chief Judge of Rivers State, Hon. Justice Adanma Iyayi-Laminkara. Worthy of note is that Hon. Victoria Nyeche shares in this same sentiment, which ensued to the “impersonation letter” and Livingstone’s suit afterwards.
The question whether 9 can form quorum or not is subject to constitutional interpretation, however, assuming but not conceding that 9 can’t form quorum, on what terra firma then is Hon. Victoria Nyeche seeking to be sworn in? Is she saying that 9 cannot seat and screen the Chief Judge but 9 can seat and swear her in? Wouldn’t that also culminate to “legislative recklessness and violation of the provision of the constitutional provisions” as you alluded? She cannot approbate and probate at the same time.
Interestingly you asked and I quote, “Was Hon. Victoria Nyeche as a duly elected member of the House justified in formally notifying the Chief Justice of Nigeria of the acts of Legislative recklessness and violations of the constitutional provisions as to the lack of quorum and its consequences? Can this exercise of her rights as a duly elected member be said to have given rise to the so-called impersonation? End of quote.
I daresay that there is nothing wrong with the exercise of notifying appropriate authorities of a perceived misgiving. But the pertinent question we must ask ourselves and learn from is that, on what capacity was the petition from Hon. Victoria to the CJN written? Who did she write as? Did she write as member-elect or as a member? The message might be right, but what about the messenger or the vessel? It can’t always be a case of “it’s not the messenger but the message”; not when the messenger is deemed to have committed an act in breach of the Constitution or criminal code whilst passing the message. We do not celebrate but admonish a pregnant 15 years old unmarried girl child simply because pregnancy and indeed childbirth is a blessing.
I disagree in strong terms your assertion that Rivers State is lying prostate and bleeding, as it is diversionary and in dear contradiction to the realities on ground. The state is working and making remarkable and unprecedented progress amidst internal and external interference and economic challenges occasioned by the sharp and continues decline of Naira value and dwindling federal allocation to the state. Evident to this are the monumental up-spring of infrastructure and steady increase in the IGR of the state. Thanks to the doggedness and political will of Governor Nyesom Wike.
Ma, Hon. Victoria Nyeche is a politician; her election and the subsequent tribunal and appeal court processes and of cause Rulings are processes of the election and in turn politics. It’s all politics and so the question of “politicizing everything” shouldn’t have even arisen in the first place, as you cannot politicize what is already politics ab initio.
It is misleading and grossly unfair for anyone today to say that “governance is abandoned while energy is dissipated in needless controversies and political turmoil”. While in truth and reality what we see everyday and indeed everywhere in Rivers State are scores of infrastructural development ongoing and completed within the first one year of an administration faced with unending high and mighty internal and external forces of impediments. Forces so powerful that it can deploy at will an entire Army Barack to descend on innocent and unsuspecting citizens going about their legitimate businesses or trying to exercise their civic and constitutional responsibilities. Invading and destroying their homes and properties; kidnapping and killing their fathers, pregnant mothers and children.
Indeed the media and specially the new media space remains open and awash with all manner of propaganda, misinformation and distorted information by a greater number our political players and populace, I do hope and pray that the respected but paltry characters whose integrity are still not mutilated or redeemable do not give it all away on the alter of political patronage or in a bid to fanning the flames of a wildfire ego of their master.
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