Rivers —At least four members
of the Rivers State House of
Assembly were yesterday brutalised in a
fracas that literally painted the walls of the Assembly complex with blood.
At the end of the squabble, the
group of five legislators opposed to the governor claimed to have removed
Speaker Otelemaba Amachree. Their claim was, however, quickly repudiated by 23
members who flocked in support of the speaker.
Yesterday’s violent clash happened
on the first day of sitting since the political upheaval in the state triggered
by removal of the structures of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP from Governor
Amaechi about three months ago.
Computers and several valuables in
the main chamber of the legislative complex were smashed in the morning
violence that was witnessed by security agents who had mounted an unprecedented
cordon within and outside the chambers.
The members had been recalled from
an indefinite break by Speaker Amachree following a request by Governor Amaechi for an
amendment to the 2013 budget of the state.
At about 10.30 a.m. as members
sauntered in and engaged themselves in banters awaiting procession of the
speaker, the leader of the House, Hon Chidi Lloyd offered a hand to the member
representing Ogu-Bolo constituency, Hon Evans Bipi, a newly married member and
relation of First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, whose wedding drew the First
Lady to Port-Harcourt last month.
A handshake and a slap
Llyod’s gesture of a handshake was
rewarded with a slap on the face by Bipi and immediately, the whole house was
engulfed in bedlam. In the melee, one of the other four members in the
anti-Amaechi camp dashed for the tripod of a television camera and swung it
round, hitting at opponents.
He was followed by another lawmaker
who went for the mace and smashed it on the head of two lawmakers. The violence
continued for some time with security men watching until Governor Amaechi
rushed to the scene with his own entourage of security men from Government
House who attempted to stop the fracas. Following the intervention, loyalists
of the governor followed him back to the Government House.
The remaining four members, however,
remained within the chambers and held a session during which it was announced
that Amachree be removed as Speaker of the House. In his place, Bipi was
announced new Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the group of
five members. Bipi in his acceptance speech announced the suspension of 15
members whose names he promised would be released subsequently.
Meantime, the other 23 members had
received information of what was going on and they quickly dashed back to the
chamber and this time, they were in company of the Deputy Governor, Hon. Tele
Ikuru.
As they returned, the majority
leader, Llyod moved to grab the mace with which the five members were using to
sit but he was restrained by Bipi and Hon. Michael Chinda, another anti-Amaechi
person, leading to a short fracas in which the group of 23 prevailed.
Bipi quickly then told his remaining
three colleagues to join him to visit the fifth member of their camp who had
been injured in the earlier fracas following which he was rushed to an
undisclosed hospital.
At 11.44 a.m. Speaker Amachree was
ushered into the House by the Sergeant-at-Arms, bearing the mace. He was not
robed in his usual attire. As he sat on the speaker’s chair to take charge of
proceedings, he beckoned on the Clerk of the House to read out the order of the
day. About that time, Bipi who had been elected Speaker by three other
legislators pushed his way into the gallery. He watched the proceedings briefly
from the gallery before he was forced out again by some security operatives. He
was accused of coming into the gallery with tear gas, though no one was able to
confirm the allegation.
Lawmakers grant Amaechi’s budget
amendment request
Speaker Amachree in his address to
the House said that the governor had written the House seeking an amendment to
the sub heads in the 2013 budget relating to some capital projects. Following
his short address, he invited the deputy governor, Engr. Ikuru into the
chambers at exactly 11.49am.
Ikuru in his remarks thanked the
lawmakers for their attention, adding that he was representing the governor. He
said he had come to present an executive amendment on the 2013 budget on
capital expenditure, stressing that it would enable the government deliver more
on its promises to the state.
Following the remarks by Ikuru, the
speaker explained that the amendment was not intended to add or remove from the
N490 billion budget earlier passed by the Assembly.
“The amendment is only on capital
expenditure. We are not adding or removing from the budget. The governor is
only asking for movement from one sub head to the other and it is only on
capital expenditure”, he said.
The House later asked the Deputy
governor to leave at exactly 11.59 while it dissolved into a committee of the
entire house where the amendment was granted.
At exactly 12.08 pm the Speaker
announced that the amendment had been effected and the House later
adjourned. The Deputy Governor, Engr Ikuru who retired to one of the
offices in the complex later joined the Speaker and other principal officers on
their way out of the chambers.
How Evans Bipi attempted to attack
Speaker, Deputy Governor
As the deputy governor, Ikuru, and
the Speaker, Hon Amachree were leaving, Hon Bibi broke out from a tiny crowd of
youths he had been addressing and made an attempt to attack the duo but the
security details of the deputy governor and the speaker stopped him.
Immediately after that last attack,
the duo of Ikuru and Amachree left the complex. At a media briefing
later, Amachree dismissed allegations that he was impeached by four
lawmakers, stressing that the leadership of the House had not changed.
“We were shocked to hear of the
impeachment. The leadership of the House has not changed. Can five members sit
to impeach the leadership of the House? We did not expect there would be chaos
in the House. We were all exchanging pleasantries before we were attacked.“
Asked why only 23 loyalists of the
governor sat to pass the amendment sought by the executive given the fact that
the ranks of the loyalists of the governor had been given to be 27, he said
that the four other members sent in excuses that they would be absent.
He, however, quickly noted that the
23 who sat were still in the majority. “It is not compulsory that every member
must be present in our sitting. I am aware they took excuses”, he said.
On the mace that was used by the
four lawmakers to sit, he said it was fake, adding that the tradition to
convene the House was for the Speaker to be escorted by the Sergeant-at-Arms
with the mace. “The Sergeant-at-Arms only escorted me with the mace.”
When asked to comment on the action
of the Police and other security operatives during the melee he said he was
totally dissatisfied with the conduct of the Police. The Speaker said the House
had applied for Police protection to cover the sitting but he was surprised
that they only came to watch.
“I asked the Clerk to write to the
Commissioner of Police and the Army for protection. The Police came watching.
We will write to the National Assembly. We also did not see the Army”, he said.
Giving his narration of what
happened yesterday, the Majority Leader who was taken to hospital in a
statement said:
“Well, yesterday the Speaker of the
House, Rt. Hon. Otelema Dan Amachree directed that the House be reconvened to
consider an amendment to the 2013 appropriation law which the Governor had
communicated to him via a letter and as if Mr. Speaker saw what was going to
happen today, he wrote a letter through the Clerk of the House to the
Commissioner of Police to provide security for today’s sitting and he also
wrote to the commander of 2 Amphibious Brigade who also doubles as the head of
the internal JTF.
So when we got to work this morning,
we saw the presence of policemen numbering over 50 and we thought that this was
in response to Mr. Speaker’s request.
“Shortly thereafter, I noticed that
the five anti-Amaechi members were discussing in clusters and calling on their
boys to come in. Initially, the policemen were searching everybody who would
come into the premises. I had to even come down at the gate and trekked into
the premises. So after a while, we learnt that there were phone calls and the
commissioner of police personally called the unit, the man in charge to allow
everybody in.
“We went in as members who have not
seen ourselves for sometime because of the crisis in the state. I was on my
seat, without provocation, Hon. Evans Bipi came to me in the full glare of
everybody on camera and started raining punches on me. As his leader I did not
react because I felt that it is something we could settle, whatever it is,
maybe I didn’t greet him also. So he continued when that continued, the speaker
intervened and said, ha, ‘what’s happening’.
“Then he reached out for the tripod
that stands the camera, used it freely on me, himself and Michael Okechukwu
Chinda. They flogged me to their satisfaction, I didn’t just utter a word until
Hon. Ihunwo graciously asked me to run for my dear life because they have
brought people with guns and of course when I looked at the gallery they were
shouting who is the Chidi Lloyd, who is the Chidi Lloyd.”
“So at that point, I’m sure somebody
may have reached out to the governor of the state who came in with his own
security because these other policemen were there standing helplessly, watching
what was going on. So he came and rescued members out of the place.
“Then after a while, we heard that
they were meeting; they had procured a fake mace to the House, so we went back
and I took the mace where they were sitting. I sustained injury as a
result of the violence by Michael Chinda and Evans Bipi.”
While I was in the hospital the
speaker and other members of the House sat and heard the amendment that the
governor sent, was presented on his behalf by the deputy governor. Now these
amendments are, the governor said he was just seeking for us to via some sub
heads for him to enable him take care of certain unforeseen events such as
flood and all that. That is why we went to work for the state only to be dealt
with in the manner that they have dealt with us. I want to use this opportunity
while in the hospital here, I have received phone calls of threat to life for
my family and I.
> Incidentally, I’m so helpless,
I don’t know who to run to. I can’t go to the commissioner of police because he
is already in the arena, he’s already on the other side. I’m appealing to
well-meaning Nigerians to pray for me and my family. That is the last hope we
have resorted to and that we also urge the National Assembly, the Senate
President and the Speaker of the House of Reps not to turn the other way on the
events of Rivers State. This could lead to something that we cannot imagine. It
had happened in Anambra State, people were laughing, today is Rivers State
nobody knows the next state it would be. If we are practising a democracy, let
us please for crying out loud play by the rules. Nigerians should pray for me
and come to our aid. The state is under siege. You can’t even vouch for the
safety of the Governor. The people are getting more dashed out on a daily basis.
The Rivers State Commissioner for
Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu meanwhile yesterday denied allegations that the police
gave cover to the anti-Amaechi lawmakers in the fracas that ensued.
The Police boss who
spoke at the Police headquarters yesterday evening admitted
receiving a request from the clerk of the House for police protection for the
sitting saying that his first reaction was to ignore it as he claimed it was
unusual request.
He said he changed his mind after he
got a letter from the Brigade Commander of the Bori Camp of the Nigerian Army
in Port Harcourt asking him to provide Police personnel for the sitting.
The Police Commissioner said he
later saw that the Assembly complex had been flooded with security operatives.
“On my way to the office I saw the Mobile Police personnel and a detachment of
C 41, Civil defence with sniffer dogs checking persons going in and out of the
Assembly. I sent my Deputy CP in charge of operations “
Source: Vanguard
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