Until the crisis in Rivers State shot him into notoriety, Evans Biapakaye Bipi was the relatively unknown chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in the Rivers State House of Assembly. The committee was credited with ending a seventeen year old oil spill dispute between the Rumuekpe community and Total E&P Nigeria Limited. Until the social media was agog with the madam-made-me-do-it quote credited to Hon. Bipi with regard to his support for the Wike ‘Intifada’, most news-consuming Nigerians were unaware of Bipi’s connections to Nigeria’s first lady Mrs. Patience Jonathan. After Mrs Jonathan’s recent visit to Rivers State during which among other engagements she was the guest of honor at Bipi’s wedding, there was no doubt left in the public mind that Evans Bipi, the former aide to Mrs Jonathan still retained a substantial influence with the president’s wife. How many other weddings has Mrs Jonathan attended in Port Harcourt since becoming the first lady of the Federal Republic? It is doubtful, going by the turn of events to conclude that Evans Bipi has had much of a honeymoon since his wedding day as the dramatic battle of wits between the camp of Governor Amaechi and the Rivers State PDP which professes loyalty to the president has been quite distracting. So much has happened within a fortnight: First, Governor Amaechi was blocked by presidential details from executing a high profile, protocol defying high five with the president while the president was seated in the middle of a state dinner with two other presidents. Then a few days later the governor got a hug from the president while his PDP adversaries led by Nyesom Wike got none. Was Evans Bipi in the Wike delegation? Probably. Before Amaechi’s stalwarts could consolidate on this development, the Rivers PDP faction made up of all the party heavyweights opposed to Governor Amaechi were received by the president at Aso Vila. The delegation even included the most charismatic Rivers politician and Gov. Amaechi’s mentor, the former governor Dr. Peter Odili. This created quite a stir. Was Odili’s declaration of support for President Jonathan an offensive against his former protege ? Time would tell. Nobody could have foreseen that a few days later Evans Bipi would literally launch a half-assed attack at the Rivers House of Assembly to oust the Speaker Otelemaba Amachree. The coup attempt was contemptible, doomed to failure from the start, comical, defined by hooliganism and certainly landed a few legislators in the hospital with bashed skulls and smashed faces. The failed Bipi coup has at least provided two adversaries; house leader Chidi Lloyd and Bipi ally Michael Chinda with hospital bed serenity and meditation hours. Video recordings of the show of shame has gone viral. The crisis in Rivers State has slipped into higher gear. The plot to impeach Governor Amaechi is no longer in doubt. The mace of the legislature is allegedly now under the governor’s protective custody. The Governor continues to talk defiance while his foes who now make up the bulk of the PDP do not seem inclined to wait till 2015. andybriggsreport.wordpress/2013/07/10/evans/.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 02:32:25 +0000
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