Wike to FG: Executive Order 10 will destroy states’ criminal justice

TRACKING___Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has called on the Federal Government not to implement the Executive Order 10, stressing that it will go a long way in destroying the criminal justice system in states.

The governor, who gave the warning in his keynote address at the third Annual Nigerian Criminal Law Review Conference, organised by the Rule of Law Development Foundation in Abuja, noted that the order, which permits the Federal Government to deduct funds from each state account to finance the judiciary, is politically motivated.

This was as the governor explained that the Executive Order 10 was geared towards the 2023 general elections. He stated that ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Federal Government, which has been hostile to judges, now suddenly wants to lure the judiciary to assume it believes in independence of the judiciary by enacting the Executive Order 10.

Wike said: “Independence is not to take resources and preside over award of contract. If you cannot give judgment according to your conscience; if you cannot give judgment according to the law, then there is no independence.

And, this of course affects the criminal justice system.” The governor also pointed out that politicisation of the issue of security by the Federal Government would continue to negatively affect the criminal justice system in the country, saying the prevailing cases of kidnapping, banditry and armed robbery which threaten the very existence and stability of the nation clearly justifies the establishment of state or community police.

He further noted that while establishment of state police might require amendment of the extant Section 214(1) of the 1999 Constitution to provide for state, the Rivers State Gov-ernment is of the opinion that community police or Neighbourhood Watch could be established without constitutional amendment.

Wike added: “The truth of the matter is that with the current strength of the Nigeria Police, which stands at about 372,000, the Nigeria Police lack the operational capacity to fulfill its primary or core mandate of crime detection, crime prevention and maintenance of public safety, law and order or protection of lives and property of persons in Nigeria.

“To put it succinctly, the Nigeria Police lack the operational capacity to police the nation which is a federation of about 923.768km (356.669 sqm) with an estimated population of 195.9 million people. It is this stark reality that informs the call for the establishment of state police to provide a complementary role to the Nigeria Police in crime detection, prevention, and maintenance of law and order.”

The governor, however, explained that it was against this background that the Rivers State Government enacted the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Law, No. 8 of 2018, which establishes the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency, as a corporate body and vested with power to establish uniform Neighbourhood Safety Corps across the 23 local government areas of the state