Rising from a closed session, which lasted almost an hour, the President of the Senate, David Mark, declared on Wednesday that federal lawmakers were prepared to sacrifice their blood, if necessary, to uphold the Constitution. The Senate President was reacting to Tuesday’s fracas in the Rivers State House of Assembly. The Senate broke into many camps over the crisis rocking Rivers State and its House of Assembly. For the first time in the history of the Seventh Senate, the lawmakers had to rely on Order 73 (1-4) of the Senate Standing Orders, where each member cast his/her vote on whether the chamber should urge the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, to wade into the crisis or not. At the end of the tension-soaked session, with consultations and criss-crossing among the opposition and ruling parties, it was a tight vote. The ayes had 50 votes as against 47 for the nays to resolve that the Senate can only urge the IGP “to take immediate steps to address the issue of the broken relationship between Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Commissioner of Police (CP), Joseph Mbu.” But behind closed doors, it was gathered that a section of the chamber had actually argued that the Senate should urge the IGP to remove CP Mbu. Rather than embark on the business of the day, Senate went straight into a closed-door session, which lasted almost an hour, from where the senators resolved to condemn the fracas in the Assembly on Tuesday. On resumption of plenary, the Chairman of the Petroleum Resources Committee (Downstream), Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, moved a motion vide Order 43 of the Senate Standing Rules. Mark allowed him to raise the motion, which allows a senator to make a personal explanation in the chamber. Abe recounted the events of Tuesday to his colleagues, saying that for “63 days, the Rivers State House of Assembly has not been able to sit. This week, the Assembly got notice from the governor that he wanted to bring an alteration to the state budget, which prompted the Assembly to write the Commissioner of Police for protection…” Rather than offer protection, mayhem ensued, said Abe, who also wondered how law and order could break down when the “Assembly is directly opposite the State Police Command on Moscow Road. “This incident happened right under the nose of the police, who were believed to be there to protect the Speaker and members of the House of Assembly,” Abe alleged. Having heard Abe’s explanation, an angry Mark condemned the treatment meted out to legislators in Rivers State and declared that the nation’s highest legislative organ finds the situation “totally unacceptable…” His words: “Clearly, what is happening in Rivers State is an embarrassment to legislators across the length and breadth of this country and it is in the interest of Assemblies not to do anything that will portray legislators as irresponsible because that is not what we are. Clearly also, what is happening is totally unacceptable and it must be condemned in its strongest possible terms, in its entirety irrespective of who is directly involved or who is behind it. “Senator Abe has raised a very serious issue and it is proper that we take steps to ensure that the Rivers State House of Assembly is restored to normalcy so that they can continue their activities in terms of legislation. In order for us get the facts so that we don’t operate by the things that we see and hear from the media, it is appropriate to send our committee to investigate for us.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 08:05:07 +0000
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