T
he last is yet to be heard of political crisis in Rivers State as the state House of Assembly was yesterday hit by another wave of brouhaha.
This is as the Rivers Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has put the blame squarely on the door steps of the governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, accusing him of igniting the crisis.
Nigerian Pilot gathered that pro Amaechi state lawmakers took advantage of the Abuja judgment and reconvened to carry on legislative business but were resisted by the police who said there was no order to reopen the closed Assembly.
A source also told Nigerian Pilot that a minority group in the state legislature were considering an impeachment move on Gov. Ameachi as they were preparing to reconvene, this warranted the pro Ameachi group to quickly reconvene, even illegally.
The pro Ameachi group were said to be 25 in number.
As the lawmakers tried to force themselves into the Assembly, the police quickly responded and sealed off the complex. The lawmakers then resorted to holding the sitting outside the complex.
But the police, sensing trouble, fired canisters of teargas which made the lawmakers quickly take to their heels, scampering for safety. It was not known at press time if anyone was injured.
The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Leyii Kwani, who presided over the outside sitting could not be reached for comments. But the state Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari confirmed the incident.
The Rivers Police Command through the Port Harcourt Area Command, Mr Aliyu Garba, told newsmen that the command had not received an order from the court to reopen the assembly complex.
Garba said the police refused to allow anybody into the complex because there was no order for the police to do so.
He said the role of the police was to avert the breakdown of law and order in the society.
It would be recalled that the police sealed the complex after the first wave of crisis hit the assembly on July 9 and 10 this year.
In their reaction, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Rivers State Chapter, said the use of
hooligans yesterday to occupy the premises of the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex by the State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi is provocative and further threatens the peace of the State.
The PDP also noted with worry, the presence of armed thugs all around the Assembly Complex who were neither members nor staff of the Legislative Assembly, but came in buses, in company of some members of the Assembly men allegedly loyal to Gov. Amaechi.
The Party in a statement signed by Special Adviser to the State Chairman, Felix Obuah, Jerry Needam, observed that Governor Amaechi’s action of attaching armed thugs to the Assembly members loyal to him had not only undermined the right and quest of the people to have a peaceful legislative business in the State, but also an abuse of the privileges and respect for the office of the Governor.
The Party condemned the hiring of thugs in buses in an attempt to take over the Assembly, and also wondered why such a twist in his reaction to the Abuja High Court, when shortly after the ruling, his Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari, said the government rejected the judgment and had filed both stay of execution and appeal motions against the decision of the Court.
The PDP said that, if the Governor was uncomfortable with the ruling of the Court on the Assembly’s resumption of functions, the best way to go about it would have been to appeal against it as stated by his Commissioner for Information, rather than use State’s resources to ignite crisis, by arming and deploying vicious youths to the Assembly Complex.
The PDP also reiterated its position and support for the leadership of Rt. Hon. Evans Bipi, as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, and further stated that it would not fail to ensure that he resumed proceeding in the House accordingly and as provided for by the law.
In another development, Gov Amaechi has sacked all commissioners considered to be loyal to Nysom Wike.
According to a statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr David Iyofor the dismissal was with immediate effect.