Posted by By ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Abuja on
Special Adviser to President Umar Musa Yar'Adua on National Assembly matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa has accused the Cross River State government of violating a subsisting court order by going ahead to conduct a council poll in the new Bakassi council, saying that it was unacceptable.
Special Adviser to President Umar Musa Yar'Adua on National Assembly matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa has accused the Cross River State government of violating a subsisting court order by going ahead to conduct a council poll in the new Bakassi council, saying that it was unacceptable.
In a release personally signed by her, a copy of which was made available to Daily Sun, in Abuja yesterday, Ita-Giwa noted that she would not fold her alms and allow her people to be trampled upon. 'On July 26, 2007, Justice Shuaibu Yahuza of the Federal High Court, Calabar issued an injunction restraining the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) from conducting elections in the new Bakassi pending the determination by it, of a matter concerning the proper resettlement of the displaced people of old Bakassi.
'But on January 26, 2008, CROSIEC went ahead to conduct election in Ikang Akpabuyo Local Government. 'It is appalling that even against the cardinal principle of respect for rule of law which the Yar'Adua administration fervently strives to institutionalize, such flagrant abuse of rule of law and contempt of court orders could take place in our polity, especially in a state like Cross River which is known to be peaceful and law abiding.
'It is on record that all law-abiding and bonafide indigenes of Bakassi boycotted the said election in accordance with the rule of law. I have personally tried to play the role of a leader and a mother and thus towed the line of persuasion."
But from all indications these were perceived as a signs of weakness and the last events have proved that we will have to do far more than that."
'However may I appeal to all our people especially the youth, to be patient and not to take laws into their hands assuring them that in line with due process and within the bounds of the law we will fight for their right. I want to assure them I will not watch them being trampled upon," she stated.