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The crisis which rocked the Rivers State House of Assembly, Tuesday, July 9, is creating more bad blood. The truth is buried as supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Chibuike Amaechi continue to trade blames

|  By Olu Ojewale  |  Jul. 22, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT

THE dust created by the fracas in the Rivers State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, July 9, may take a while to settle. For most of the week, the state was the centre of attraction for political analysts and interested parties to have a say on the crisis. But instead of calming words, what dominated the media were claims which could further stoke the ember of discord already fermenting in the state.

While receiving the Senate Committee on State and Local Government Administration investigating the crisis in the state on Thursday, July 11, Governor Chibuike Amaechi said Rivers State was now under siege. “Yesterday, they were shooting tear gas into Government House. When we were meeting with the deputy inspector-general, DIG, today, the police claimed that it was inadvertent, that they shot tear gas into Government House. So, I asked one question, supposing, it was live bullet and it hit me, they said, ‘No! governor was not outside,’ but I said, I was outside, you can check,” Amaechi said.

The governor also alleged that he was no longer safe because of the sudden withdrawal of soldiers and Amoured Personnel Carrier, APC, attached to Government House. He also said that commanders of security formations in the state had not met with him in the past two months on account of political pressures. “We are under siege here. For two months now, we have not met with security men. Security commanders in the state don’t come to me any longer. They are either scared or they don’t deliberately want to see me. They withdrew soldiers attached to me yesterday, (Wednesday, July 11) and this morning, they withdrew the APC attached to Government House,” the governor said.

Kabiru Gaya, a senator and chairman of the Senate Committee, said the committee was mandated by the Senate to find a solution to the problem in the state. “I will also say the state was under the situation of violence, and there were disturbances in Rivers State. Therefore, this committee was mandated by the Senate to come and investigate, and also invite other members, including stakeholders. After this courtesy visit, we have to discuss with you to know what happened from your side. We also need to talk with the Assembly members on both sides, including the Commissioner of Police, the DSS and the JTF.  We have already asked the Commissioner of Police to meet us this evening and DSS,” Gaya said.

But contrary to the claim by the governor, the military said no governor has troops deployed to guard him. “Rather, in areas where Joint Task Forces are deployed due to peculiar security challenges, soldiers are deployed to ensure peace and security for the people of that state or environment and not to protect individuals. The only exception to that rule is the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, who is being protected by the elite Brigade of Guards,” the source said. Even Ibrahim Attahiru, a brigadier-general and director of Army public relations, said he was not aware that the military had ordered the withdrawal of soldiers from the state.

However, 11 governors in opposition political parties accused the federal government of using the crisis in Rivers State as a ploy to declare an emergency rule in the state.  The opposition governors, who are members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, said in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, July 11, that what was happening in Rivers State, was an assault on Nigeria’s democracy. The statement said in part: “The Progressive Governors’ Forum unequivocally condemns the ill-disguised attempt to create a state of emergency in Rivers State by plunging the state into a needless and avoidable crisis.”

The group alleged that available evidences on the crisis had shown that Joseph Mbu, commissioner of police in the state, exhibited clear bias against Amaechi and his supporters. “This is a dangerous development that would only produce anarchy with unpredictable consequences,” the statement said further.

That allegation was in tandem with that of Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State who said that Mbu had become the governor of the crisis-ridden state. Aliyu, while receiving Zubairu Dada, commissioner for Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, at the Government House, Minna, the state capital, on Thursday, July 11, said: “You saw what is happening in Rivers State?  A commissioner of police has now become the Governor of Rivers State. Is that the image we want the world to look out to?” The governor, who is also the chairman of Northern States Governors’ Forum, however, said: “There is too much money at the centre for the federal government to spend and that is why they are creating problems for the states.” Like the 11 governors in the opposition, Aliyu attributed Amaechi’s problem to his re-election as chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, May 24, this year.

Wole Soyinka, a professor of literature and Nobel Laureate, on his part, while also condemning the crisis, accused Patience Jonathan, wife of the president, of becoming a tool of destabilisation with a mission to shut down the apparatus of the state. Speaking with journalists in Lagos, Soyinka said it was regrettable that Patience was giving tacit support to those plotting against Amaechi. “Too much is too much. She is now being used to reduce the authority of an elected governor,” he said as he likened the situation in the state to an emergency.

“There is a certain way a leader can convey certain coded messages to his followers and they will be acting accordingly. That President Jonathan might not have openly declared support for what is going on, his comportment, his carriage and most especially, his silence might have indicated his meddlesomeness in the matter,” he said.

The ACN simply asked the National Assembly to impeach the president for the complicity in the crisis in Rivers State. In a statement issued by Lai Mohammed, national publicity secretary, in Abuja, the party alleged that Jonathan had failed to live up to his oath of office to uphold the constitution of the country. “Under his watch, five lawmakers – out of 32 – have become the majority and, simply because they have the backing of the Presidency, are now being given police protection to disrupt the proceedings of the Assembly. As we write, Rivers State has been taken over by current and former militants, who have been unleashed to destabilise the state and cause a breakdown of law and order, to pave the way for the imposition of a state of emergency. ’This cannot and must not be allowed to continue, hence our call on the National Assembly to move quickly to remove the source of the crisis,” the party said.

However, the Presidency has called on opposition parties and those who believe that Jonathan was the unseen hand in the Rivers State brouhaha to discountenance the idea. Reuben Abati, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, denied that the president had instigated the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly, saying as a president, he would never support any action that would negate his commitment to the rule of law. The statement said in part: “We are constrained to state once again that there is absolutely no factual basis for suggestions that some of the politicians involved in the current dispute are acting at the behest of the President.”

Ahmed Gulak, special adviser to the president on political matters, said Amaechi should learn to face his problem with the House Assembly without dragging the president into it. Doyin Okupe, senior special assistant to the president on public affairs, said Jonathan could not have engineered the crisis in Rivers State, because Amaechi was too small for him to fight. “The President has no hand in what is happening in the state. The President is not fighting Amaechi. He (the governor) is too small an entity for the President to fight. That (fight) has not happened; it cannot happen and it will not happen. What is going on in the state is the reaction of the people and maybe they are not happy because of his disposition to the president or the Presidency or his party (the Peoples Democratic Party),” Okupe said.

On the ACN’s call for the president’s impeachment, Okupe described it as “another condemnable, extremist and fundamentally flawed position by the opposition party.” Okupe added, “For the avoidance of doubt and at the risk of repetition, we wish to state categorically that in spite of what the ACN will want the Nigerian people to believe, President Jonathan is absolutely unconnected and definitely not involved in the political crisis that seemed to have engulfed Rivers State in recent times. The President is not, has not and will never engineer any act that can cause disaffection between Governor Amaechi or any other governor and the state legislature or any other institution of government.”

On its part, the PDP also condemned the ACN’s claim and asked lovers of democracy to discountenance it. Tony Okeke, the party’s acting national publicity secretary, said the ACN’s statement was “malicious and the height of political irresponsibility,” and accused the party of aggravating the situation for selfish reasons.

In the meantime, Mohammed Abubakar, inspector-general of Police, has inaugurated a high powered investigation panel headed by Philemon Leha, deputy inspector-general of Police in charge of Operations, to unravel what led to the melee in the state. Abubakar charged the panel to “scrupulously investigate all the circumstances surrounding the on-going impasse in the State particularly, as it relates to the actions and omissions of Police personnel that were physically on ground during the unfortunate fracas that occurred at the hallowed Chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly”.

Indeed, the police would need to be scrupulous to know what actually took place, why and finger the main actors in the crisis. Nigerians and, indeed, the world at large, would be interested in what transpired that led to what has now become a show of shame which happened on Tuesday, July 9, at the Rivers House of Assembly. Many versions of the story seem to be making the round while the whole truth is buried beneath the rubbles of the crisis itself. One version of the story says, trouble started when Evans Bipi, leader of the five members of the House of Assembly, opposed to the leadership of Otelemaba Dan Amachree, speaker of the House, assaulted Chidi Lloyd, leader of the House, for attempting to hold a session to impeach Amachree and subsequently, Governor Amaechi. In the pandemonium that ensued, Bipi and Michael Okey Chinda, one of his loyalists, allegedly held Lloyd and flogged him thoroughly.

At this point, Amachree was said to have moved to rescue Lloyd, but Bipi and Chinda allegedly grabbed the tripod of a camera stand to hit Lloyd on the head. Lloyd was later admitted in a hospital while Amachree, Martins Amahule and some others, sustained various degrees of injuries. Outside the assembly chambers, Augustine Ngo, representative of Abua/Odual constituency of the state, was allegedly punched to the ground two times, and had to be aided to his feet by aides. Police were said to have witnessed the fight within and outside the assembly chambers.

The five lawmakers were later chased out of the chambers as calm somewhat returned to the House. But before leaving, Bipi was said to have used his five-member session to announce the impeachment of Amachree and the suspension of 15 members of the Assembly. He did not give their names. Bipi was said to have also announced that he was the new speaker of the Assembly. Although, the Rivers State House of Assembly usually sits at 10 o’clock in the morning, the five lawmakers were said to have gathered at 8 am. The incident lasted for about 10 minutes.

When informed about the fight in House, Amaechi was said to have ordered the arrest of the five legislators but was ignored by the police. Mbu stated that when Amaechi informed him that he was going to the House of Assembly because some law makers had informed him that they were not safe, he asked one Braide, a chief superintendent of police and the commander of Mobile police 19, to send half a unit of his men to the House. He said he later dispatched a deputy commissioner of police in-charge-of operations and later an assistant commissioner of police in-charge-of operations to the House. But the police were said to have watched the physical show of power without any intervention or arrests.

Mbu has been having a running battle with Amaechi who has accused him of taking sides in the political crisis. Amaechi also accused Mbu of neglecting his duty of protecting life and property and only doing the bidding of President Jonathan, who is believed to be supporting Nyesom Wike, minister of state for education, in the battle to wrestle power from the governor.

But another version of the story was given to Realnews by Emmanuel Okah, former commissioner for information of Rivers State. He alleged that the whole crisis was caused by supporters of Governor Amaechi. He said prior to the violence, the Assembly had formed a quorum where Amachree was impeached and removed as speaker. He claimed that some members of the House who were loyal to the speaker did not put up any resistance when the impeachment move was made. He did not disclose the person who moved the motion for the impeachment.

“Unknown to the speaker, some of his supporters reneged on him and defeated a move that was reminiscent of what happened at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum chairmanship election where some governors reneged on Jonah Jang and voted for Amaechi,” Okah said. When the news of the removal got to the governor, Amaechi was said to have quickly called the police that he was going to the House. On getting there, some of his supporters in the Assembly were said to have felt energised and aided by Amaechi, unleashed violence on those who were opposed to the governor and Amachree. It was then Lloyd, the majority leader, picked up the mace where it lay and used it to hit one of the opponents repeatedly.

“Amaechi ran to the House because he was afraid that he would be impeached. It is also the same reason that made him to reach out to Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of the House of Representatives, to cajole the House to take over the affairs of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” Okah said.

The former information commissioner said there was no need for the violence, and that if the members who were supposed to be in the majority were not pleased with the new speaker, all they needed to do was to hold another meeting and remove Bipi as speaker. Besides, he said, they could also use the instrument of the court to remove the new speaker.

Sam Nwanosike, assistant publicity secretary, PDP, Rivers State, said that 23 members sat when the motion to remove the speaker was raised. He said that a motion for the vote of no confidence was passed on Amachree and he stepped down for a protem speaker to preside over the session that elected the new speaker. He said that it was at the point of giving his acceptance speech that, three members of the Assembly ran out and informed the governor who came to the Assembly with his security personnel to unleash violence on the members.

But Victoria Nyeche, a member and one those who ran out, said that she was not part of any impeachment process. She said that the problem started on April 15, with the ruling of the court sacking the state PDP executive and the solution would be the reversal of that court ruling. She said that members were able to sit after the violence because of the security of the deputy governor which protected members of the Assembly from attacks. “The inspector-general of police has already set up a committee led by a deputy inspector general of police who visited the member of the assembly who is now comatose in the hospital. The member was beaten black and blue by Chidi Lloyd, an angry leader, who hit him several times with a mace,” Nyeche said.

Indeed, after the whole brouhaha, the 27 members loyal to the governor were said to have sat to amend the state’s 2013 appropriation bill. Tele Ikuru, deputy governor, was ushered into the Assembly chambers at 11:42 am to present amendments on behalf of Amaechi. The proceeding lasted until 11:51 am when Ikuru left the main chambers. Shortly after he left, the House was adjourned sine die meaning, indefinitely, at 12:01 pm.

The curious thing about the sitting of the 27 pro-Amaechi legislators shortly after the conflict is that whether their decision has any stamp of authority since it was captured on video where Lloyd broke the mace on someone’s head. So, the poser here is: What was the symbol of the authority used by the House since the mace had been broken during the conflict? Lawyers have said no legislation is recognised without the mace which serves as the mark of authority.

Another poser is: Why should the governor go to the House of Assembly without first writing to inform the members of his intended visit? Political analysts t insist that what Amaechi did was wrong and against protocol for him to rush to the Assembly without any written communication to and from the Legislature. They argue that Amaechi’s unexpected presence at the House sparked the violence.

Meanwhile, members of the Assembly loyal to Amaechi have described as false, the allegation that Amachree had been impeached and removed as speaker. A statement by 26 out of the 32 members of the Assembly on Wednesday, July 10, said: “We state for the benefit of the public that no such situation existed on the floor of the Assembly on July 9, 2013. These are mere machinations of the five members desperate to do their masters’ bidding. The purported claim by a member of the Assembly, Bipi, to be the new speaker of the state Assembly is false and a hallucination of the most debased form. We urge members of the public and the press to disregard such claims.”

To restore sanity to the Assembly, the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, July 10, endorsed a resolution to take over the functions of the crisis-ridden Rivers State House of Assembly. At its plenary presided over by Emeka Ihedioha, deputy speaker, members said that the crisis in the Assembly had led to a breakdown of law and order, making it impossible for members of the Assembly to perform its legislative duties.

The decision of the House was followed by a motion raised by Albert Sam-Tsokwa, Taraba State, who cited Section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution in presenting his motion. The section states: “At any time when any House of Assembly of a state is unable to perform its functions by reason of  the situation prevailing in the state, the National Assembly may make such laws for the peace, order and good government of that state with respect to matters on which a House of Assembly may make laws as may appear to the National Assembly to be necessary or expedient until such time as the House of Assembly is able to resume its functions; and any such laws enacted by the National Assembly pursuant to this section shall have effect as if they were laws enacted by the House of Assembly of the state.” However, the resolution requires the concurrence of the Senate to have the force of law.

But it looked as if the House of Representatives was too hasty because section 11 subsection 5, says that: For the purpose of subsection (4) of this section, a House of Assembly shall not be deemed to be unable to perform its functions so long as the House of Assembly can hold a meeting or transact business.

It was obvious that the House of Representatives did not take into account that the Rivers State House of Assembly met after the conflict that same day to pass an amendment to the 2013 budget of the state. In any case, it was not the first time that the National Assembly would take over the state assembly functions, it once happened in Ogun State. The law, however, requires the concurrence of the Senate before it can be implemented.

Also irked by the situation in the state, the Senate had a tension-soaked session, with consultations and criss-crossing among the opposition and ruling parties. At the end, the ayes had 50 votes as against 47 for the nays to resolve that the Senate could only urge the IGP “to take immediate steps to address the issue of the broken relationship between Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Commissioner of Police, CP, Joseph Mbu,” and not outright redeployment of Mbu as being canvassed by some senators. It also resolved to get the IG to investigate what transpired in the state Assembly, while it also decided to send its own team to do a similar investigation and find a lasting solution to the crisis.

In the past several weeks, Amaechi and Mbu have been involved in a war words. Amaechi has been asking for police permit to lead his supporters to the streets in a peaceful protest in the state, but Mbu would not grant the request.  However, a good number of Nigerians are not pleased with what has come to be known as a show of shame in the Rivers House of Assembly. One Michael Eseigbe said he observed that one of the lawmakers was shouting “Arrow Mates,” must have belonged to the “Supreme Viking Confraternity,” a cult group. According to him, the chant he screamed was the language used by the cult group. “This is why we will never achieve anything in this country when power has been given to cultists who terrorised their mates back in school and have now brought that wayward life to bear on our socio-political sphere. What a travesty!’’ Eseigbe said.

Another fellow who simply gave his name as Mayaki, enjoined the Nigerian youths to come out enmasse to contest elective positions to bring about change in the nation’s polity. “Why we leave our future in the hands of these hooligans is beyond me.  Seventy per cent of this country’s population is under 35 (67 per cent under 25)! We are not too young to claim control of our destiny, after all, we cannot claim that the wisdom and maturity that comes with old age makes our politicians deserving of their positions,” he said.

All efforts to get reactions of Ibim Seminitari, commissioner for information, Rivers State, proved abortive. Even though she had initially agreed to speak with our reporter to also forward materials on the matter to his e-mail address, she reneged on her promise and also refused to pick his calls. Be that as it may, it is obvious that no matter how anyone may wish to use propaganda to cover the truth, it will always come out. But let us hope that those in the authority will not be carried away that they will deceive the people forever. The truth always have a way of coming out, it will not be different in this case. I hope.

Reported by Maureen Chigbo

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