Nyesom Wike’s hooliganism just proves that we are not politically mature enough to combat a global pandemic

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) Like many of you, I could not believe my eyes yesterday when I saw bulldozers demolishing hotels in Port Harcourt yesterday on the orders of Governor Nyesom Wike

(2) This is taking the typical African power drunkenness to unprecedented levels. Basically Wike just wants to show who is boss in Rivers State. His actions have very little to do with combating the Covid-19 pandemic

(3) If you pass a law inhibiting movement, whoever breaks it should be charged to court and let the magistrates determine their case as they see fit. No law empowers a governor to carry out a sentence which he personally deems appropriate. In this case, Wike was lawmaker, prosecutor, judge, jury, appeal court and executioner all in one

(4) For starters, the penalty for contravening a lockdown order is a fine or imprisonment. There is no law anywhere in Nigeria that says properties where people congregate can be demolished as part of the fight against Covid-19

(5) Even if such a law existed, a hearing would have to take place with the usual right of appeal. Such a case would likely go all the way to the Supreme Court of Nigeria

(6) Wike’s actions strike me as a vendetta against a political opponent and nothing more. This is nothing but thuggery, hooliganism and the abuse of power. This is what happens when you elect thugs as governors

(7) A mature and level-headed governor who did not have a personal agenda would have dealt with any breaches of the lockdown like a gentleman. He would maybe have sealed the premises, charged the owners to court and insisted that the facility be fumigated before being opened again

(8) When I look at the mature way Ikharo Attah is going about the discharging of his duties in the Federal Capital Territory and compare it with the thuggish and loutish behaviour Wike is exhibiting in Rivers State, I just despair. When you elect a thug like Wike as your governor, I think it is delusional to expect good governance

(9) Covid-19 has exposed how immature our democracy is. We refuse to obey health guidelines, show contempt for social distancing, ignore advice on facemasks and now we have politicians who are using the process to settle political scores

(10) When I add this to how some governors want to use the pandemic to get N15bn from the federal government, how others chase Nigeria Disease Control Centre officials out of their states and how some clergymen want to keep holding mass services just so the tithes will keep flowing, I question whether Covid-19 should spare us at all. Maybe we need this pandemic to wipe out the evil doers in our midst to pave way for fresh ideas and thinking. Nigeria certainly needs a Noah’s flood type of cleansing