How Court Saved Omehia from Refunding N695m

Attempt by the Rivers State Government-Nyesom Wike to force Celestine Omehia to refund the N695million voluntarily paid to him as pensions has hit the with the court saying that the money could just be a gift after all.

In his judgment, Justice Daketima Kio held that in the first place, Omehia is not a former governor of the state and as such, not entitled to pensions and other benefits meant for former governors and their deputies.

The judge therefore dismissed the suit filed by Omehia against the state government seeking to compel him to refund the money to the state government as lacking in merit. He held that Omehia did not compel anybody to pay him the said money.

Rotimi Amaechi, who was then Speaker of Rivers Assembly, won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary in the state for the 2007 general election. But the PDP replaced Amaechi’s name with that of Omehia, a development that forced Ameachi to challenge the decision of the party in the court.

While Amaechi was in court, the PDP won in the election, with Omehia as its flag bearer. He was sworn in as governor on May 29, 2007. In October 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that Amaechi was the rightful candidate of the PDP and hence winner of the April 2007 election.

Consequently, Ameachi was sworn in as governor of the oil-rich state on October 27, 2007. Throughout his eight years as governor, he did not recognise Omehia as a former governor of the state but his successor, Wike, after assuming office as governor in May 2015, accorded Omehia the status of former governor and directed that benefits accrued to former governors of the state including pensions be paid to Omehia.

Eight years later, Wike aspired to become Nigeria’s President but lost in the PDP primary to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

After losing to Atiku, he threw his weight behind then APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, now president. Omehia and other PDP members in the state were, however, still supporting Atiku.

Angered by the development, Wike ‘derecognised’ Omehia as a former governor of the state, and asked him to refund all the benefits he enjoyed while he was enjoying the status of former governor.

But Justice Kio held that from every fact, Omehia never applied for recognition by the state government or Rivers Assembly, hence the state government cannot legitimately demand the money paid wrongly to Omehia.