Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike supervised the Demolishing Hotels in Rivers state earlier today, prompting Nigerians to air their views on the situation.
On Sunday, May 10, 2020, Rivers State Government announced its decision to demolish Edemete Hotel and Prudent Hotel for flouting lockdown order in the state.
This was announced in a statement by Paulinus Nsirim, the state Commissioner for information and communications.
But what many people thought was a just threat to enforce compliance turned out to become a very controversial decision by the governor, as Wike and other officials of the Rivers State task force went ahead to demolish the hotels.
The hotels were demolished barely six hours after the state government announced its decision to demolish the facilities.
Nigerians how had earlier praised the governor over his action in curtailing the spread of the disease in his state, took to social media to berate him over the demolition
Below are some Twitter reactions to the demolition of the hotels:
****You don’t cut off the throat of your child cos he disobeyed you. This is wickedness. Wike should have imposed a fine after sealing off the hotel!
**** Guys, Wike is not “Overdoing”. Its not “gra-gra”. He’s abusing his office. What he’s doing is literally illegal and inhuman. Call it as it is.
*** The decision to demolish hotels in Rivers state over violation of the COVID-19 lockdown order is extreme and illegal. Gov Wike, this isn’t leadership.
*** Wike was showing necessary action and ensuring security agencies do their job well. He was conmended for that by many & rightly so. But going on to demolish an hotel is definitely way out of order. That sort of action is really condemnable. A fine should have been appropriate.
*** If you’re close to Wike, tell him he’s moving mad.
If you’re close to his wife, the judge, tell her that her husband is moving mad and illegally.
There no defence or justification for some of the things he’s doing, and I am being extremely diplomatic because he’s ‘one of us’.
*** And dem never create state police o, wait till state police happen…. One finger no go enter any governor yansh again.
The annoying thing is when the owner of hotel sues & wins in court, the compensation will come out of state funds instead of Wike’s personal account.
