Wike orders Rivers Attorney-general to sell off vehicles impounded for flouting lockdown
After insisting on strict adherence to the recent lockdown imposed on Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike has begun a personal clampdown on violators of the lockdown. The governor who joined the State COVID-19 Task Force on Thursday, May 7 to monitor the level of compliance of the lockdown arrested some defaulters and impounded their vehicles in Port Harcourt.
While speaking on how the defaulters will not go unpunished, he noted that the vehicles impounded or seized from them will be forfeited and auctioned off.
“The defaulters will be tried by the mobile courts and I have told the Attorney General, all the impounded vehicles must be auctioned. By tomorrow (Friday), the Honourable Attorney-General would have advertised those vehicles and we will auction them,” he declared.
“Some people don’t believe that Coronavirus is in existence. Until you make them understand that we are serious, they will not believe it. We will auction the impounded vehicles.”
He also added that the 14 persons who had been arrested while being smuggled into the state by trailers carrying cows and other defaulters have been charged to the Mobile Court for prosecution according to Executive Order 6.
“Those arrested will face the wrath of the law. Nobody is above the law. We will not allow anyone to sabotage our efforts to protect our people,” he said.
So far, more than 100 violators of the lockdown order have been convicted by the Mobile Courts as the Governor insists on showing the offenders the fist.
Meanwhile, the arrested violators are detained at the state Isolation Centre in Elekahia. Rivers state currently has a total number of 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with two recoveries and two deaths.
