The group wants the governor to put under check.
At a press briefing in Lagos, the Program and Advocacy Coordinator of the group, Okechukwu Nwanguma noted that the governor uses officers of the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad to illegally demolish properties of persons accused of crime but not yet tried or convicted, describing such action as “preposterous and unfounded in logic and law.”
“We call on all stakeholders in Anambra State and relevant state and federal authorities to urgently take appropriate legal and political actions to check Mr. Peter Obi’s increasing recklessness and descent to savagery which is capable of leading to a backlash that may be more difficult to deal with if allowed to become the norm of governance in the state,” Nwanguma said.
According to Nwanguma, for the third time in one year, the governor has been in the news for ordering and personally supervising the demolition of properties belonging to residents of Anambra State accused of crime.
He cited the recent demolition of a property belonging to Bonaventure Mokwe as one example of the governor’s excesses.
“On the 1st of August, there was the demolition of Upper Class Hotel belonging to Mr Bonaventure Mokwe at 8 Old Market Road, Onitsha on the governor’s order.
This was carried out on the allegation that two human heads, two AK-47 rifles and some ammunition among other items were recovered from one of the rooms in the three-storey structure,” Nwanguma said.
The rights group maintained that Obi’s attitude violates the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, “which thereby erodes human rights, threatens public safety and subverts the due process and the rule of law.”
The group said, “If the police have credible evidence to prosecute the accused persons, they should not further delay to charge and arraign them before a competent court of jurisdiction.
His continued detention in SARS cell in the past 21 days without trial is illegal, unconstitutional and condemnable,” Nwanguma said.
