Tension in Rivers as Anti-Amaechi Lawmakers Prepare to Sit

Gov Rotimi Amaechi

There is palpable tension in Rivers State as members of the state House of Assembly opposed to the Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, have said they will resume sitting today.

But pro-Amaechi lawmakers have also vowed to resist any attempt by the police to allow the anti-Amaechi legislators access to the complex, given that they were denied access to the same chambers last week.

While the legislators are squaring up for a fight, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Magnus Abe, has said the governor and his supporters defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in order to rescue the people of the state from injustice, persecution and alienation by the federal government.

Also yesterday, a Rivers State High Court, sitting in Ahoada, restrained a member representing Ogu/Bolo constituency in the assembly and leader of the anti-Amaechi lawmakers, Hon. Evans Bipi, from laying claims to the speakership of the assembly.

The surroundings of the assembly complex have become a near battleground, as the police on a daily basis now use tear gas to disperse lawmakers and their supporters from gaining access into the complex.

Yesterday, as early as 5.30 am, rival groups suspected to have come from Okrika landed at the Marine Base jetty on their way to the complex.

Okrika is the home community of the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

THISDAY gathered that it was the presence of the police that averted what would have been a bloody clash.

Bipi told THISDAY in a telephone interview that his group would sit today.

He, however, said it would be on the condition that the police would have received a certified true copy (CTC) of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which ordered the reopening of the assembly complex.

“We are sitting tomorrow (today) if the police receive the judgment of the court. We will be deliberating on issues that will be in the interest of Rivers people,” he said.

But a source close to the pro-Amaechi lawmakers also said they were prepared to confront the anti-Amaechi members, if necessary.

According to the source: “When they brought boys from Okrika this morning (yesterday), they did not know that we were waiting for them. Let us see how they will gain entrance into the chambers and our people will be left out.”

He said they were prepared to go to the chambers daily until the issues were resolved.

Reprieve, however, came the way of the pro-Amaechi lawmakers yesterday as the court stopped Bipi from parading himself as speaker of the assembly.

Justice C. N. Wali, ruling in an ex-parte motion for an order of interim injunction filed by the Speaker, Hon. Otelemaba Amachree and Deputy Speaker, Hon. Leyi Kwane, ordered that all parties to the issue should maintain the status quo ante bellum prior to the commencement of hostilities among the lawmakers on July 9.

Named as defendants in the suit are the assembly, 28 members of the state legislature, including Bipi, who is the 25th defendant, the Inspector General of Police (IG), Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 6, Calabar, the state Commissioner of Police and the Nigeria Police Force.

Ruling on the ex-parte motion, backed by an affidavit deposed to by Kwane, Justice Wali granted an order stopping Bipi from further parading himself as speaker, calling himself or acknowledging himself as speaker of the state assembly or allowing himself to be so addressed without promptly refuting such appellation.

He also stopped Bipi from acting in any manner whatsoever as speaker of the assembly or from obstructing Amachree from discharging his legal duties as speaker. 

The judge ordered the police to enforce the court orders while adjourning further hearing in the case until January 6, 2014.

Meanwhile, Abe has blamed the federal government for the decision of Amaechi and his supporters to join the APC.

Speaking at Eleme during the inauguration of the newly-formed Save Rivers Movement (SRM), Abe, who represents Rivers South-east Senatorial District, said Amaechi and other well-meaning leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state had tried repeatedly to draw the attention of the national leadership of the party and President Goodluck Jonathan to the injustice being meted out to the governor and the people to no avail.

Abe said: “They have taken our oil wells at Soku; they have stopped the Port Harcourt water project originally initiated by the federal government in conjunction with the African Development Bank (ADB); can you compare the Port Harcourt International Airport with any other international airport in Nigeria?

“I don’t think we deserve this sort of treatment after Rivers State gave two million votes to President Goodluck Jonathan.”

On the state assembly crisis, Abe said: “They went to court and the court asked that the House of Assembly should reconvene. The 25 members went to the House to resume sitting but they were not allowed to go into the assembly because they know that the 25 lawmakers loyal to Governor Amaechi are in the majority. What sort of justice can that system of policing be attributed to?

“The police refused to allow the 25 lawmakers into the House of Assembly against the order of the court. If the 25 members of the House of Assembly, who are in the majority, decide to sit what is the interest of the police?”