Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on Monday stated that he demolished two hotels in the state which violated lockdown order for two reasons.
One, according to him, was because their facilities were used to endanger the lives of the citizens and second, for violently attacking and injuring members of the task force enforcing the lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state.
Prudent Hotel, Eleme, and another one were destroyed on Sunday following the order of Wike.
The governor gave the explanation in a broadcast he made on the action which has been criticized by the public.
Stating that his action was taken in good faith, Wike said the members of the task force attacked by the hotels were already in the hospital and their fate unknown as at the time he was making the broadcast.
His words: “We acted against the hotelier because, apart from using the facility to jeopardise the lives of our citizens in violation of the extant law, the owner audaciously unleashed thugs led by the Eleme local government youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party and inflicted severe injuries on our task force members who went to enforce the law against the continued operation of the hotel.
“As we speak, nobody knows the fate of the lives of most of the victims of that brazen and deadly attack given the severity of the head injuries they sustained.
“And so, we’ve done no wrong as all our actions were taken in good faith and justified by, under and within the purview of the Executive Orders, which have neither been challenged nor set aside by any competent court of law.
“Therefore, while we welcome genuine criticisms directed towards strengthening our intervention measures, it is no use taking issues with uninformed critics and social media legal practitioners who, blinded and prodded by sheer politics, bias and hatred, have opted to demonise and paint our lawful and responsible actions in bad light.”
