Police declare Rivers Assembly leader wanted for alleged attempted murder about 20 hours ago • IG summons governor’s CSO, ADC • ACN blames Presidency for attack on govs • How I attempted to resolve rift, by Soyinka • ‘Strange security officers at gov’s residences’ • Bipi accuses Amaechi of dictatorship, others AMID condemnation of the attack by protesters on five governors in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Tuesday, the police on Wednesday declared the Majority Leader of the state’s House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, wanted for an attempted murder. Lloyd is accused of attempting to murder a colleague during the fracas that broke out at the legislative house recently. It was also learnt that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) and Aide-De-Camp (ADC) to Governor Chibuike Amaechi as well as Lloyd have been summoned to the police headquarters in Abuja just as the security organisation warned that any form of unauthorised assembly would not be tolerated. The invitation, according to the information made available to reporters in Abuja yesterday, in a statement, is to help the police obtain further details that will assist proper investigation into the matter. The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday issued a letter calling upon the trio to come to Abuja “for a face-to-face meeting in respect of their roles as seen in the video clips in circulation, and a possible interaction with him.” But counsel to the lawmaker said the police lack the constitutional power to arrest Lloyd whom he said was receiving medical treatment in an undisclosed hospital. Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has urged Nigerians to hold President Goodluck Jonathan responsible if the country slides into anarchy as a result of the worsening political crisis in Rivers State. Also, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday spoke on what he hoped could “eliminate all further distraction and enable the nation to concentrate on issues that affect the democratic pursuit.” There was a violent confrontation at the House of Assembly following an alleged attempt by five lawmakers said to be opposed to Amaechi to impeach the Speaker, Otelemaba Amachree, to pave the way for the impeachment of the governor. But 22 pro-Amaechi lawmakers were said to have resisted them and in the free-for-all that ensued, Lloyd allegedly battered one of the lawmakers, Okechukwu Chinda, with a fake mace smuggled into the legislative chamber. The State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, yesterday in a statement endorsed by its spokesperson, Angela Agabe, said Lloyd was wanted in connection with the fight that erupted on July 9, 2013 at the House of Assembly. “The Rivers State Police Command has declared wanted one Chidi Lloyd, a native of Emohua in Emohua Local Council of Rivers State, about 37 years of age. He is the Majority Leader of Rivers State House of Assembly. He was involved in a case of conspiracy, attempted murder, wounding and willful damage on the 9th of July 2013,” said Agabe. Agabe alleged that the police decided to declare Lloyd wanted after he failed to respond to police invitation which elapsed on July 16, 2013. The counsel to Lloyd, Emenike Ebete, told The Guardian that the police had on Monday, at about 3.00 p.m., dispatched a bus loaded with security agents to the House Leader’s residence in Port Harcourt in a bid to arrest him, only to discover that he was not at home. According to him, the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act Chapter L12 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 Section 22 and 23 grants him immunity and that it is only the attorney-general of the state based on the petition of the Speaker of the House that could prosecute Lloyd. ACN said in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, that the stoning of the four governors in Port Harcourt was unprecedented in the country’s history. The party wondered why the police could not provide adequate security for the visiting state chief executives and restrained the protesters. In a statement, Soyinka disclosed certain steps he had taken to ensure that the crisis did not degenerate. The statement reads: “In public interest, in order to eliminate all further distraction and enable the nation to concentrate on issues that affect the democratic pursuit, it is necessary to make the following information available: “Before the press conference held (Thursday, last week) by Femi Falana and myself – that is, even before the Rivers Assembly fracas - I had been canvassed by opposing sides of the face-off, both via telephone and physically. One such visit, perhaps the most significant, was made by a Special Adviser in the Presidency who outlined what can be regarded as the official rationale for the Governors’ Forum election debacle. In the process of this exchange, he did make certain complaints against Governor Rotimi Amaechi, including charges of a conflict of interests over certain resources. This was implied as the root of division between the Governors’ Forum and the Presidency. “I wrote down the details, informed the emissary that I would pass on these accusations to Governor Amaechi – which I did. That Amaechi hotly denied them and offered contradicting facts, which he urged me to verify, remained, and remains utterly irrelevant to the democratic core of the conflict – and this has been made clear to all interventionists: Keyed into this core are: “• The Arithmetics of democracy involved in figures 16 and 19 at the time, and now, with increased confidence in impunity, the figures 27 and 5; and “• Whether or not it is democratic, even cultured proceeding that a state governor is barred from public access anywhere within his own zone of constitutional authority, with the massive security apparatus of the centre, on behalf of an unelected individual. Even after the Rivers crisis has been resolved, this notorious proceeding will not be permitted to fester unchallenged. “For the rest, since beneath the surface of most Nigerian conflicts will be found inordinate greed for public resources, it is perhaps pertinent to remind ourselves that Oil is not the only marvel to emerge from the Delta swamps. There are also exotic creatures – mermaids, manatees, even mammy watas and hippopotami. However, unlike crude oil, which can be refined, you can extract a hippopotamus from the swamps, but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus.” Besides, the Amaechi administration has raised the alarm over his safety due to the posting of strange policemen and intelligence officers to the Governor’s Lodge in Abuja and Government House in Port Harcourt respectively. A statement by George Feyii, Secretary to the State Government, explained that two policemen, one of who is Inspector Bawa, reported to the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge at Asokoro, Abuja yesterday and claimed that they have been posted by the Police Headquarters to monitor it. Feyii also disclosed that earlier, four intelligence officers had been posted to Government House, Port Harcourt, by the Rivers State Police Command. According to him, the postings were done without any notification or reference to Amaechi. On his part, factional speaker, Evans Bipi, speaking in Abuja yesterday, after a visit to the Presidential Villa, said: “ I am a concerned party in the recent development in the state that brought about my election as the new speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. I was duly nominated and elected on the floor of the house with appropriate instruments and officers of the house. He alleged that “immediately after I was elected speaker, Governor Amaechi invaded the hallowed chambers of the Assembly with thugs, his ADC, CSO and a retinue of other security men and personally gave orders for the brutalization of lawmakers and staff of the Assembly.” He went on: “One of us, Hon. M.O Chinda, lies critically ill in a hospital and has undergone several surgeries. “Since my emergence I have enjoyed the support of various stakeholders in Rivers State including my dear colleagues and the state chapter of PDP and am very grateful. “Let me bring to your attention the factors that necessitated the impeachment of our former Speaker who failed in his responsibility to bring the governor to book and to act on other matters of state interest. “The recent romance of the governor with the opposition and other anti-party activities which led to his suspension from the PDP stands out as a sore thumb in the face of all right thinking Rivers people. His immature emotional outbursts, arrogance, childish tantrums and insults rained on the entire party, elders and stakeholders, his stoppage of the entitlements of five legislators for a year and the near collapse of the administration of the state necessitated our resolve and move to seek measures to rescue Rivers people from the shackles of corruption, high handedness and maladministration. Bipi listed “reasons for the impeachment ot the speaker,” as follows: • Money appropriated by the Rivers House of Assembly for the purchase of aircraft was 45 million dollars only but it was inflated by the governor to be 55 million dollars. • We want to know the position of other aircraft owned by Rivers State government, the bombardier aircraft bought by his administration and in whose name it was bought for how much? •The governor’s wife has siphoned all constituency projects to her Private NGO, while members opposed to his maladministration are being denied their 2013 constituency projects as well as monthly allowances. •Without due process, the governor suspended Obi/Akpor LGA chairman, vice chairman, secretary and 17 councilors. †ill date they remain out of office. • The governor has consistently interfered in the affairs of the legislative chamber in the state. • Most legislative bills are altered to suit the governor before being signed into law. • The governor has consistently dipped his hands into the public till of the state including the local government council funds. •N40 billion was approved for the Rivers Monorail project out of which about 19billion naira has been released. There is nothing to show that the amount so far released was judiciously used for the project as the project remains comatose. Also, the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, said in Abuja yesterday that she had committed the ongoing crisis in Rivers to prayer and that it started as far back as four years ago. She spoke during a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa by 16 bishops from the South-South geo-political zone. She said contrary to some reports, she had always mediated between Governor Chibuike Amaechi and other parties in a crisis that began four years ago. “Amaechi is my son, I cannot fight him and I cannot kill him. He shouldn’t be used by outsiders against his own blood because this seat is vanity.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 17:59:46 +0000
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