Nigerian Breaking News House move to take Rivers Assembly functions, demands redeployment of state police boss Ini Ekott - 15 hours ago NATIONAL, NEWS The Rivers State Assembly has been enmeshed in a bloody crisis following the lingering rivalry between Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Amaechi. The House of Representatives passed a resolution, Wednesday, taking over the functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly a day after violence erupted at the state chamber leaving four lawmakers injured. But a senate concurrence will be needed for the House to fully assume the functions of the Rivers assembly. The House invoked its constitutional powers- Section 11, sub-section 4 of the Nigerian constitution- to act in lieu of a crisis-ridden state assembly; and ordered the Inspector General of police, Mohammed Abubakar, to immediately redeploy the state police commissioner, Joseph Mbu, accused of refusing to act to curb Tuesday’s violence. A similar proposal before the Senate calling for sanction against Mr. Mbu was rebuffed by Senate president, David Mark, at a stormy deliberation that got Senators taking a rare vote to reach a decision on the police chief. Mr. Mbu has been accused by the embattled Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, of working for the presidency to subvert authorities in the state as part of a long-drawn political feud between Mr. Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan. Violence erupted at the state chamber on Tuesday as lawmakers resumed from a forced break over a previous crisis that for months pitched 27 members, including the speaker, supporting Mr. Amaechi, against five others, with links to President Jonathan. A dramatic move by the minority group to sack the Speaker, Otelemaba Amachree, and replace him with one of their own, Evans Bipi, triggered a free-for-all in the Assembly. As the violence degenerated with members freely assaulting one another, police personnel and armed soldiers, who had arrived at the chamber early enough, stood watching, witnesses and state officials said. Mr. Mbu, the police commissioner, denied the allegations on Tuesday and claimed he responded appropriately by deploying his officers. But videos online have shown minimal police action to stem the violence. Another video also shows a member of the House smashing a broken mace on another lawmaker, and subsequently chasing him around the chamber before a policeman cornered the assaulted lawmaker and also attacked him. The member shown attacking another man in the video has been identified as the Majority Leader of the House, Chidi Lloyd, a supporter of the governor. The impeachment attempt itself is widely interpreted as aimed at installing a leadership of the state assembly that would immediately move against Mr. Amaechi. Mr. Bipi confirmed that concern on Tuesday, vowing to impeach the governor if he failed to “behave”-that is if he becomes the Speaker. “I have no intention to remove the governor of Rivers State. But if the need to remove him arose , I would do that. Now, I am the Speaker of the Assembly because I was duly elected,” Mr. Bipi was quoted as saying Tuesday. Denials and denials Mr. Jonathan and his aides have repeatedly sought to distance the presidency from the crisis in the state, denying instigating violence or even feuding with Mr. Amaechi. But critics have cited the details of events between last week and Tuesday as indications the president had an imprint in the uproar. The man at the centre of the impeachment attempt– the supposed elected speaker, Evans Bipi–is said to be a relative of the First Lady, Patience. Mrs. Jonathan personally attended Mr. Bipi’s wedding just last week. The president himself, who is currently on a state in China, met last week with the faction of the state People’s Democratic Party opposed to Mr. Amaechi. Also, despite the scale of the chaos, by Wednesday the presidency had yet to issue a statement on the matter. Federal lawmakers shelved ongoing constitution review debates on Wednesday to respond to the crisis. The Senate attempted first to move against the controversial police commissioner and condemned the crisis in the state and merely urged the police IG, Mr. Abubakar, to “take immediate steps to address the broken relationship” between Mr. Amaechi and Mbu ahead of full investigation, a resolution many lawmakers said was too lenient.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 14:42:56 +0000
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