One shot, others injured as Rivers lawmakers clash. • Reps ask N’ Assembly to take over state legislature, order redeployment of police chief • Senate deplores rift, to intervene, IG wades into crisis • ACN, Presidency, PDP trade words THERE may be no end yet to the crisis rocking Rivers State as a street brawl erupted Wednesday in Port Harcourt between supporters of Governor Chibuike Amaechi and five lawmakers opposed to him, leaving many people injured. The fresh crisis prompted the police to seal off the State House of Assembly. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has passed a motion asking the National Assembly to take over the functions of the Rivers State legislature. The House also passed a motion directing the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar to redeploy the state Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu for “dereliction of duties.” Also, the Senate yesterday condemned the crisis rocking the House of Assembly, which culminated in a free-for-all on Tuesday, and agreed to wade into the matter. Already, the IGP has dispatched a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) to Port Harcourt, to investigate the crisis in the state. But the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for the crisis and urged the National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against him. But the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faulted the ACN’s call. Similarly, criticisms have continued to trail the crisis as human rights organisations, bodies and prominent Nigerians have condemned the violence. Yesterday’s violence was triggered by an attempt by four of the anti-Amaechi lawmakers led by the lawmaker representing Ogu/Bolo Constituency, Mr. Evans Bipialaka, and three others to resume legislative duties. Bipialaka who was during a mock session on Tuesday pronounced speaker by four anti-Amaechi lawmakers had fixed sitting for 8.00 a.m. Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House, Otelemaba Amachree had also announced that the 27 pro-Amaechi lawmakers would reconvene by 10.00 a.m. yesterday. But before Bipialaka’s group could commence their sitting, thousands of the governor’s supporters under the aegis of the Ikwerre Youth Movement stormed the Assembly complex threatening a showdown with the anti-Amaechi lawmakers. And fearing a violent reaction by the anti-Amaechi lawmakers’ supporters, the police asked everyone to vacate the premises. Amid this, scores of soldiers arrived in Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) and ordered everyone to comply with the directive. To disperse the crowd, the police had to fire several canisters and deployed APCs near the Police Headquarters which is just a few metres from the House of Assembly on Moscow Road and another one near the Port Harcourt City Council secretariat. Having been dispersed by the police, the anti-Amaechi lawmakers and their supporters moved from NIPOST office area to Station Road near Government House. Suspecting that the anti-Amaechi lawmakers were planning to storm the Government House with their supporters, the governor’s loyalists quickly swooped on them. In the ensuing melee, the two contending groups hurled bottles and stones at each other. One pro-Amaechi supporter was shot in his scapular and rushed to hospital. Amid the violence, policemen arrived and started firing teargas and chased Amaechi’s supporters into the Government House. Several persons sustained injuries in the ensuing violence. Tension immediately enveloped the state capital, forcing banks along Station Road, Bank Road and Azikwe Road to close. The clashes also forced many civil servants to hurriedly desert the state secretariat. Mbu, accompanied by some senior police officers and scores of anti-terror policemen, later arrived at the entrance to the Government House to assess the situation on ground. A statement by the Police spokesperson, Mrs. Angela Agabe, on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, warned that the prohibition of public procession remained in force. The police threatened that they would prosecute anyone caught protesting in the state. Also, the 26 pro-Amaechi lawmakers in a statement denied that Amachree was impeached as the speaker. Relying on Section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution following the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance introduced by Albert Tanimu Sam Tsokwa (PDP Taraba), the House of Representatives said it would henceforth take over the legislative duties until normalcy returns to the House of Assembly. Leading a debate on the motion supported by 18 other members, Tsokwa, who is Chairman, House Committee on Business and Rules, expressed concern that the Rivers State Police Command which had pledged to provide security for the sitting of the state’s legislature did not stop the violence. On their part, the senators reached the following resolutions: “• That the Senate condemns in strong terms the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly, which portends danger for our democracy. “• That the Senate mandates the Committee on States and Local Governments to forthwith investigate the remote and immediate causes of the crisis in Rivers State House of Assembly and report back within one week. “• That the Senate resolves that in the interim, all parties to the crisis maintain the status quo and refrain from any action capable of jeopardising the security of lives and property in Rivers State, among others. “• That the IGP should take immediate step to address the issue of the broken relationship between the Governor of Rivers State and the State’s Commissioner of Police”. Abubakar, who fielded questions from State House Correspondents shortly after he conferred with Vice President Namadi Sambo yesterday, vowed that whoever was found to be fanning the embers of political hatred and crisis would be summarily dealt with. He also said that any police officer who, by the DIG’s investigation, found to be taking sides with any of the feuding parties would be brought to book, saying that he would not pre-empt the work of his second-in-command that is now in the state to investigate the matter. In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN alleged that by his abhorrence of the rule of law and majority rule, the latest indication of which is his unmistakable support for a group of renegade lawmakers who are fomenting trouble in Rivers State, the President has become a clear and present danger to the country’s democracy, and must be shown the way out in accordance with the Constitution. The party decried the anarchy that is now reigning in Rivers, simply because the five renegade lawmakers have the backing of the Presidency, which has emboldened them to take extra-constitutional measures to try to remove the majority-backed Speaker of the State House of Assembly. But addressing a press conference in Abuja yesterday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said: “It is very sad for anybody to think that President Jonathan would fight with the governor of Rivers State. The governor is too small an entity for the president to fight with. To avid watchers of Nigerian politics, President Jonathan has not shown himself as a person who will deploy his immense constitutional powers against any governor or democratic institution to achieve personal goals. “Once again, this position of the ACN is another condemnable, extremist and fundamentally flawed position by the opposition party.” In a statement, the PDP’s Acting National Publicity Secretary, Tony Caesar Okeke, described the ACN’s call for the impeachment of the president as “malicious and the height of political irresponsibility.” The party accused the opposition of seeking to aggravate the situation in Rivers State for selfish reasons. The PDP said it was appalling that the ACN would always seek to distort facts to the extent of trying to link the president with the situation in Rivers State all in a desperate bid to tarnish his image and bring him to public odium. Among those who deplored the crisis are the United Niger/Delta Energy Development Security Strategies (UNDEDSS); the Jigawa State PDP, Edo State ACN, National Coordinator, Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr Junaidu Mohammed; rights activists and lawyers, Femi Falani,(SAN), Oladipo Okpeseyi(SAN) and Ebun Adegboruwa. Others are Convener of Nigeria Voters Assembly (VOTAS), Mashood Erubami, and a former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Abubakar Tsav.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 06:55:56 +0000
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