May 30, 2010
The chicken has come home to roost that is what has happened in Cross River State and this is aptly demonstrated in the present Frosty relationship between Governor Liyel Imoke and former Governor Donald Duke which culminated in the arrest of Donald Duke by the police and account of his disobedience of an order of an Akamkpa High Court that he should not commission the controversial Women and Children Hospital, Calabar. The disobedience of the order restraining Donald Duke and his wife, Onari from commissioning the Women and Children hospital which was decidedly built with government funds and money from donor agencies but Which Donald Duke and his wife have now converted to their own property, is a study in the abuse of office and chronic and endemic corruption which characterized governance in Nigeria . Duke and his wife must explain how they came by funds which were used in the building of this hospital in the true spirit of accountability.
Those who are conversant with Calabar Capital City know that present location of the so called women and childrenhospital used to be the secretariat of the defunct National Republican Convention, one of the two political parties created by former military dictator, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in the late 1980s. Duke must explain how he came by this property if he insists it belongs to his wife or himself. I do not know why Donald Duke is denying that he was arrested. After I read online his denial that he was arrested, I had to call Mr. James Ebri, who obtained the Order. Mr. James Ebri confirmed that Donald Duke was actually arrested and whisked away in a Police Car after his entreaties to the Police that he should be allowed to report to the Commissioner Of Police in his own car was politely turned down by the Assistant Commissioner of Police who led the team.
I vividly remember that I had submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC calling for the investigation of the tenure of Donald Duke especially the high debt burden of the state and the ownership of the Children Hospital, since 2008 but Donald Duke used his enormous influence and clout to block investigation. This is the overwhelming evidence that more than eighty three million naira of government funds was invested into that hospital. It is on record that this petition was widely reported in the media including the online news agency, Sahara Reporters.
The hypocrisy of those at the helm of affairs in Cross River state has been exposed by this incident. When Liyel Imoke took over from Donald duke as governor in 2007 all these issues including the ownership of the children hospital and the huge debt burden of the state, the dubious Tinapa project were there but Imoke decided to play the ostrich by burying his head in the ground because Duke was his political friend and associate.
This is the consequence of over personalization of governance which has characterized the running of government in the country. Governor Imoke is only talking now because Duke has resigned his membership of his PDP and severed his political friendship with Imoke. I pray that we (the people) should not be drawn into this fray under whatever guise. Imoke must explain why he kept studied silence on this obviously sordid affair all this while until when Duke resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party. In a decent society this type of cover up can lead to the rolling of
heads.
I wonder aloud how Duke would disobey the order of a court of competent jurisdiction under the guise and pretext that it was made by a High Court sitting in Akamkpa which he claimed has no jurisdiction over Calabar municipality. This is huge gaffe by somebody as sophisticated and highly placed as Donald Duke. It smacks of an abysmal lack of understanding and appreciation of elementary principles of the Rule of Law; in the first
place the Akamkpa High Court is one of the divisions of the High Court of Cross River State of Nigeria which has territorial jurisdiction all over the Cross River State of Nigeria.
It is therefore absurd for Duke who is supposed to be a lawyer to contend that he refused to obey the order stopping the commissioning of the said Women and Children Hospital because the order was made by Honourable Justice Maurice Eneji of the High Court sitting at Akamkpa. The position of the law as held the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a plethora of decided cases is that a order of a court of competent jurisdiction must be obeyed until it is set aside by the Court {that issue it} or an Appellate Court . The position of the law as reiterated in a legion and plethora of decided cases is that anybody aggrieved by a court injunction must obey first before he takes step to cause the court to rescind it. Duke has portrayed himself as a lawless fellow by refusing to obey that order.
Duke does not deserve to be conferred with an honorary doctorate degree by a university which ought to be a paragon of decency and morality with the tar around him including allegations that he did evaded the compulsory National Youth Service Corps and the allegation corruption around him but Nigeria is a Country of any thing goes. I however agree that the withdrawal of the conferment of a honorary doctorate degree on Duke by the Cross River State University of Technology smacks of an act of political vindictiveness by Liyel Imoke and pettiness but Donald Duke was equally very vindictive and petty when he was Governor. Duke was a constitutional dictator to the hilt. He hounded his opponent and ensured that the opposition became emasculated. It is on record that many of his political opponents such as Eyo Okon Eyo and John Okpa to mention just but a few died in very controversial circumstances.
I commend Mr James Ebri for his courage and patriotism. If the Government of Cross River State wants some us to take it serious it must tell the people of the State when it took it three years since Duke left to realize that the Women and Children Hospital was built by public funds. Any thing less will give credence to the widely held belief that Imoke is only going after Duke because they have political parted ways.
Those who are conversant with Calabar Capital City know that present location of the so called women and childrenhospital used to be the secretariat of the defunct National Republican Convention, one of the two political parties created by former military dictator, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in the late 1980s. Duke must explain how he came by this property if he insists it belongs to his wife or himself. I do not know why Donald Duke is denying that he was arrested. After I read online his denial that he was arrested, I had to call Mr. James Ebri, who obtained the Order. Mr. James Ebri confirmed that Donald Duke was actually arrested and whisked away in a Police Car after his entreaties to the Police that he should be allowed to report to the Commissioner Of Police in his own car was politely turned down by the Assistant Commissioner of Police who led the team.
I vividly remember that I had submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC calling for the investigation of the tenure of Donald Duke especially the high debt burden of the state and the ownership of the Children Hospital, since 2008 but Donald Duke used his enormous influence and clout to block investigation. This is the overwhelming evidence that more than eighty three million naira of government funds was invested into that hospital. It is on record that this petition was widely reported in the media including the online news agency, Sahara Reporters.
The hypocrisy of those at the helm of affairs in Cross River state has been exposed by this incident. When Liyel Imoke took over from Donald duke as governor in 2007 all these issues including the ownership of the children hospital and the huge debt burden of the state, the dubious Tinapa project were there but Imoke decided to play the ostrich by burying his head in the ground because Duke was his political friend and associate.
This is the consequence of over personalization of governance which has characterized the running of government in the country. Governor Imoke is only talking now because Duke has resigned his membership of his PDP and severed his political friendship with Imoke. I pray that we (the people) should not be drawn into this fray under whatever guise. Imoke must explain why he kept studied silence on this obviously sordid affair all this while until when Duke resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party. In a decent society this type of cover up can lead to the rolling of
heads.
I wonder aloud how Duke would disobey the order of a court of competent jurisdiction under the guise and pretext that it was made by a High Court sitting in Akamkpa which he claimed has no jurisdiction over Calabar municipality. This is huge gaffe by somebody as sophisticated and highly placed as Donald Duke. It smacks of an abysmal lack of understanding and appreciation of elementary principles of the Rule of Law; in the first
place the Akamkpa High Court is one of the divisions of the High Court of Cross River State of Nigeria which has territorial jurisdiction all over the Cross River State of Nigeria.
It is therefore absurd for Duke who is supposed to be a lawyer to contend that he refused to obey the order stopping the commissioning of the said Women and Children Hospital because the order was made by Honourable Justice Maurice Eneji of the High Court sitting at Akamkpa. The position of the law as held the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a plethora of decided cases is that a order of a court of competent jurisdiction must be obeyed until it is set aside by the Court {that issue it} or an Appellate Court . The position of the law as reiterated in a legion and plethora of decided cases is that anybody aggrieved by a court injunction must obey first before he takes step to cause the court to rescind it. Duke has portrayed himself as a lawless fellow by refusing to obey that order.
Duke does not deserve to be conferred with an honorary doctorate degree by a university which ought to be a paragon of decency and morality with the tar around him including allegations that he did evaded the compulsory National Youth Service Corps and the allegation corruption around him but Nigeria is a Country of any thing goes. I however agree that the withdrawal of the conferment of a honorary doctorate degree on Duke by the Cross River State University of Technology smacks of an act of political vindictiveness by Liyel Imoke and pettiness but Donald Duke was equally very vindictive and petty when he was Governor. Duke was a constitutional dictator to the hilt. He hounded his opponent and ensured that the opposition became emasculated. It is on record that many of his political opponents such as Eyo Okon Eyo and John Okpa to mention just but a few died in very controversial circumstances.
I commend Mr James Ebri for his courage and patriotism. If the Government of Cross River State wants some us to take it serious it must tell the people of the State when it took it three years since Duke left to realize that the Women and Children Hospital was built by public funds. Any thing less will give credence to the widely held belief that Imoke is only going after Duke because they have political parted ways.
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