Governor Sim Fubara on swearing day where he affirmed to uphold the constitution
Following the recent supreme court judgment, the Rivers state governor in a state-wide broadcast on Sunday ,March 2nd ,2025 mandated all the council chairmen to hand over to the most senior civil servants in their council areas the next day .
The council chairmen on Monday, 3rd March 2025, dissolved all the outstanding taskforces before handing over to the most senior civil servants in the council areas. In view of this, all pre-existing taskforces remained dissolved until a new one would be constituted.
On Tuesday, 4th of March 2025, I went to buy refilled water needed for the water dispenser in my household and since the next day ,Wednesday ,5th March 2025, would be first Wednesday of the month where my church holds monthly prayers ,I decided to buy bread at Bonjour bakery closer to the Cway company where I bought the refilled water for refreshment of my church members.
On my way back, under the Eleme flyover in Obio-akpor LGA,Rivers state ,I was stopped by some group of people .First,I asked them who they were and that they should identify themselves before I could engage them in a conversation . Just like a scene in a movie they overpowered me , spoiled the central lock of my car and gained access into my car , deflated the driver side of my car tyre ,used hammer to destroy some of my wheels and the front and back bumpers of my car . At that point I had to call two of my boys to come over to the place and it took them about 20 minutes to arrive the scene of the crime.
,Mr Chijioke Ihunwo,the immediate past council boss
When my boys arrived, I told the supposed taskforce officers to take me to their council headquarters at least my car would be safe there but they forcefully drove my car with the deflated tyre to a nearby private motor park. They asked me to pay them fifty thousand naira (N50,000) ,I demanded for evidence of parking my car in unrecognized car park because if I decided to go to court to enforce my rights as enshrined in s46 of the Nigerian constitution ,as amended ,there was no evidence to prove my car was impounded by them . They refused to give me any document to show my car was impounded by them. At that point I became more afraid of leaving my car in their possession because should I come back the next day, my car was not there, who should I hold responsible or call.
Secondly, I was not even sure of the identities of the supposed taskforce officials .I demanded for their identities which they refused to give me. I could not fight them rather I went to the divisional police office controlling the area of the crime and demanded to see the divisional police officer (DPO).
The DPO before me called their boss and they confirmed that they impounded my car and that they had closed for the day, the DPO was angry why they were still operating when they had been dissolved.
Meanwhile, before leaving the park yesterday, somebody confided in me that I should not allow my car to sleep in that private motor park that they usually remove the catalyst in the exhaust pipes of impounded cars at nights .I told the person that he should not worry that before my car should be removed from there,I would check for any damage and they would pay me for that after all I have other cars ,so let them continue parking the car.
The deflated tyre of the vehicle illegally impounded
All I need is for them to give me a written note stating that private cars should have stickers and that I cannot use my private car to carry my personal load. Thereafter, I will approach the court to seek where taskforce can usurp the powers of the court as contained in s5 of the Nigerian constitution because it is only the Nigerian court that has the power to punish alleged offenders. I will pursue the matter to see where the taskforce will be the complainant, investigate the same matter ,prosecute the matter and pass judgment on same matter against the principles of Nemo judex in causa sua. Also, I will like to know the part of the law that says all Toyota Sienna cars must be for commercial purposes .I have many cars and I don’t think there is any law that prevents me from making use of any of them any time I deemed fit provided their documents were up to date. They wanted me to pay them N50,000 cash and not into any government account so I would have no proof of such payment .
Meanwhile, I later called a senior person in the said local government and he told me all taskforces in the council area remained dissolved.
For the video view : https://youtu.be/LP-ZfZGdxTs
To be continued …….
Dr Paul John ,mazipauljohn@gmail.com,08083658038