House of Rep Declares Legislative Emergency in Rivers State
The storm in the Rivers State House of Assembly reverberated nationwide
Wednesday as the National Assembly, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), opposition parties and Nigeria Police Force (NPF) all waded into
the crisis, played the blame game, with some calling for the removal of
the state’s Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Joseph Mbu.
Alarmed at the turn of events in Rivers State, the House of
Representatives took proactive action by declaring legislative emergency
in the state.
It invoked Section 11(4) of the constitution, which empowers the
National Assembly to take over the functions of any state legislature
that is unable to perform its constitutional functions due to a
breakdown of law and order.
However, the invocation of Section 11(4) of the constitution would only
have effect if the Senate concurs with the House on the matter.
But even as the House moved to stem the crisis in the assembly, the
Senate could not arrive at a common ground on the issue, as the senators
bickered bitterly over the call for the sack of Mbu.
In its reaction to the crisis, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
however, called on the National Assembly to commence impeachment
proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan, whom it blamed for the
political instability in Rivers State.
But in sharp riposte, the presidency and PDP asked ACN to leave the
president out of the state crisis and urged the National Assembly to
ignore the call for Jonathan’s impeachment.
While deliberating on the issue Wednesday, the House of Representatives
declared that the crisis in the state had reached a new dimension that
was preventing the state House of Assembly from sitting and performing
its constitutional responsibilities.
It also asked the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed
Abubakar, to redeploy Mbu for his alleged complicity in the crisis in
the state.
The resolutions followed a motion of urgent public importance on the
crisis rocking Rivers State. A total of 18 lawmakers spoke in favour of
the motion while two lawmakers kicked against it.
The dissenting voices were those of Hon. Ken Chikere and Hon. Kingsley
Chinda, both lawmakers who are from Rivers State were concerned that the
declaration of legislative emergency by the House might amount to
taking sides on the matter.
Chinda had earlier raised a point of order to halt the entire motion but was shouted down by some of his colleagues.
Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Albert Sam-Tsokwa
(PDP/Taraba), had brought the motion in a bid to draw the attention of
the House to Tuesday's fracas that occurred in the Rivers State House of
Assembly.
In the lead debate, Sam-Tsokwa disclosed that the state assembly had on
previous occasions tried to hold its normal sittings and transact
parliamentary business but was unable to do so as a result of the
presence of hoodlums in the precincts of the parliament and the
inability of the police to provide security for the legitimate
authorities of the assembly.
In separate contributions to the debate, some lawmakers condemned what
they described as the failure of the NPF, Rivers State Command, to
provide security for the state assembly.
They blamed the fracas and eventual disruption of the sitting of the
assembly on the police’s complacency and urged the IG to provide
security for the Rivers assembly to enable it carry out its
constitutional functions.
The sponsor of the motion had initially demanded the constitution of an
ad hoc committee to visit the Rivers assembly on a fact-finding mission
and report back to the House within seven days.
The prayer was, however, overtaken by the subsequent arguments in favour of a more drastic action.
However, as the House moved the motion on legislative emergency for the
Rivers Assembly, the Senate degenerated into a rowdy session Wednesday
over the agitation by some senators for Mbu’s sack.
The uproar, which lasted for almost one-and-a-half hours, was the
fallout of a closed-door session held by the Senate to deliberate and
take a resolution on the fracas in the state assembly where five members
attempted to impeach its speaker, Hon, Otelemaba Amachree.
After the closed-door session, the Senate returned to the plenary
during which Senator Magnus Abe (Rivers South-east) formally reported
the crisis in the state assembly to the Senate.
In reaction, Senate President David Mark, who described the festering
crisis in the state as an embarrassment to the entire country, added
that the situation was totally unacceptable and condemnable.
After the remark, Mark handed the resolution of the Senate at the
closed-door session to the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, asking him
to read the Senate’s adoption.
Accordingly, Ndoma-Egba read the resolutions, of which the first four were adopted by the senators through voice votes.
In the resolutions, the Senate condemned in strong terms the crisis in
Rivers State, which it said “portends danger for our democracy”.
It also mandated its committee on state and local governments to
investigate the immediate and remote causes of the crisis and report
back to the upper chamber within one week.
The Senate also resolved that in the interim, all parties to the crisis
should maintain the status quo and refrain from acts capable of
jeopardising peace in Rivers State, adding that the Senate would uphold
the constitution at all times.
But when the Senate leader read the last resolution, which asked the IG
to take immediate steps to address the issue of broken relationship
between the Rivers State Government and the CP, it was overwhelmingly
rejected through a voice vote.
Subsequently, the Senate was thrown into a rowdy session as the noise of dissension from opposing senators rent the atmosphere.
The dissenting senators had wanted the resolution to call for either
immediate sack or redeployment of Mbu, as the perception was rife that
he had been fuelling the crisis in the state instead of resolving it.
But after 20 minutes, Mark called the chamber to order and appealed to
his colleagues to allow the resolution to stand, saying it had been
amended to read that the “Senate urges the IG to address the no love
lost relationship between the CP and Amaechi”.
Mark contended that calling for the sack or redeployment of the CP
would amount to taking sides before an investigation was conducted.
He was also conscious of the fact that the IG does not take orders from the Senate. But dissenting senators reasoned otherwise.
After the appeal, he put the question again hoping that the dissenting
senators would change their minds, but the result was too close to call.
Nevertheless, Mark ruled in favour of the resolution. But the ruling
was contested by Abe who believed that it was not the true reflection of
events during the voice vote.
This prompted a voice vote. At the end of the voting, Mark announced
the results, saying 50 senators voted “yes,” 47 voted “no,” while three
“abstained” and seven were absent.
However, the dissenting senators again contested the result, alleging
that it was not the authentic result, which prompted an irritated Mark
to advise anyone who was not satisfied with the outcome of the voting to
proceed to the tribunal to contest it.
But while the Senate bickered over the resolution on Mbu, the IG at the
end of a meeting held Wednesday with Vice-President Namadi Sambo and
Minister of Police Affairs, Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd), said the
police would investigate the crisis engulfing the Rivers assembly by
sending a team of investigators led by a Deputy Inspector General of
Police (DIG) in charge of Operations to the state.
Abubakar, who warned that any police officer found wanting in the
crisis would be punished, added that he was unaware of claims that the
police had supported the thugs who stormed the assembly complex.
On the conduct of Mbu, who the state governor, Chibuike Amaechi, had
repeatedly called for his removal, the IG asked: “What conduct? I am not
in Port Harcourt and I am investigating.
“I have sent the DIG in charge of operations; he is in Port Harcourt
and he will brief me on what is happening and the action taken by police
in Rivers State, and necessary action will be taken against anybody who
has anything to defend.
“You are free to make allegations but the allegations must be
substantiated that he (Mbu) has done something stupid. I have not gotten
any written documentation that has accused the Commissioner of Police
of one particular offence till today.”
He also denied the allegation that policemen fired teargas into the
Government House, Port Harcourt Wednesday, saying: “That is not true; no
reasonable Commissioner of Police will go and teargas the Government
House; it is not true.”
In its reaction to the crisis in Rivers State, the ACN called on the
National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment proceedings
against the president over his alleged role in the ongoing crisis in the
state.
The party blamed Jonathan for failing to live up to his oath of office
to uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In a statement issued Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said by his abhorrence of the rule of law
and majority rule, the latest indication of which is his unmistakable
support for a group of renegade lawmakers who are fomenting trouble in
Rivers State, the president had become a clear and present danger to the
country's democracy, and must be shown the way out in accordance with
the constitution.
Joining ACN in condemning the crisis, the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC) yesterday described the fracas in the assembly as
disgraceful and a desecration of democracy.
Speaking to THISDAY, the National Publicity Secretary of CPC, Mr.
Rotimi Fashakin, said the party was not impressed with the role of the
security agents in the whole saga.
He said CPC believed that the Rivers State crisis was a replay of what
happened during the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) election where the
minority attempted to unseat the majority.
“The show of shame in Rivers bore all trappings of what happened during
the NGF election where a very desperate presidency tried to have its
way; a presidency that is bent on using proxies to fight its wars. What
happened was a clear desecration of democracy,” he said.
But the presidency and the ruling PDP took on the ACN immediately and
advised the opposition party to leave the president out of the crisis
rocking Rivers State, while urging the National Assembly to ignore the
call to impeach the president.
According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public
Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, “This position of the ACN is another
condemnable, extremist and fundamentally flawed position by the
opposition party.
“For the avoidance of doubt and at the risk of repetitiveness, we wish
to state categorically that in spite of what the ACN will want the
Nigerian people to believe, President Goodluck Jonathan is absolutely
unconnected and definitely not involved in the political crisis that
seems to have engulfed Rivers State in recent times.
“The president is not, has not, and will never engineer any act that
can cause disaffection between Governor Rotimi Amaechi or any other
governor and the state legislature or any other institution of
government.”
Okupe therefore called on the National Assembly and Nigerians to ignore
and disregard the self-serving and unpatriotic call for impeachment of
the president by ACN.
Also, the leadership of the PDP condemned in strong terms the statement by ACN.
PDP’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Tony Okeke, in a statement
described the ACN’s call as “malicious and the height of political
irresponsibility”.
The ruling party accused the opposition of seeking to aggravate the situation in Rivers State for selfish reasons.
The PDP said it was appalling that the ACN always seeks to distort the
facts to the extent of trying to link the president to the situation in
Rivers State, all in a desperate bid to tarnish his image and bring him
to public odium.
The party urged all members of the state assembly and leaders in the
state to exercise restraint and maintain decorum. It also called on all
its members in the state to remain calm.
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