A middle-aged lady, Uche Okechukwu, sells recharge cards near the yet-to-be-rebuilt secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. The roof of the building was destroyed by storm about two years ago and later demolished when it became an eyesore.
The NUJ secretariat, named Ernest Ikoli Press Centre to honour a renowned journalist, is adjacent the Rivers State House of Assembly, which has now been turned to a theatre of war.
Another petty trader, Joy Kalu, also sells biscuits, sachet and bottled water as well as writing materials and other items near the zonal office of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Moscow Road -- and she is not currently happy.
A seller of roast plantain, yam and fish, beside the Alfred Diete-Spiff Civic Centre, also on Moscow Road, Madam Ekaette from Calabar in Cross Rivers State, wondered why the 32 members of the Rivers House of Assembly could not resolve their differences and have to cause untold hardship for her and her family.
Youthful vulcaniser, Nnamdi, who operates near the Rivers State secretariat, overlooking Moscow Road and back gate of the Government House, Port Harcourt, also expressed displeasure over the face-off among politicians in the crude oil and gas-rich state.
A senior member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Port Harcourt Branch, who preferred to simply be identified as Barr. Ben, said the Rivers political crisis was taking a toll on his cases in courts near the House of Assembly (Court of Appeal and Rivers High Courts).
Customers of some commercial banks near the Rivers House of Assembly, while responding, lamented that the deepening crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was greatly affecting them as banks are always shut whenever supporters of political leaders are protesting.
Persons with offices and business outfits on Moscow Road and adjourning areas are also not left out of the groaning as a result of low patronage, considering the incessant violent protests by politicians and use of teargas by soldiers and policemen, thereby causing stampede, health hazards and confusion.
Residents of Moscow Road, workers at the Rivers State secretariat and occupants of the nearby Government House, Port Harcourt, are also not finding the heavy dose of teargas and political crisis easy, with tension heightened in the hitherto peaceful state.
A senior Rivers civil servant, Mr. Longjohn, from Bonny Island, who declined to give his first name, was at a loss over the siege in the state and why politicians were becoming very desperate for power and political offices, especially as we move towards 2015.
Longjohn wondered why President Goodluck Jonathan from Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, his wife, Dame Patience, who hails from Okrika, the headquarters of Okrika LGA of Rivers State and the Rivers Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, an indigene of Cross Rivers State, could take sides in the crisis.
The president has, however, continued to deny his alleged involvement in the crisis over which Governor Amaechi has already written Mr. President, the Police Service Commission and others.
In order not to take chances, the Rivers Police Headquarters, which is adjacent the Rivers House of Assembly, is now being highly fortified, especially with Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s supporters deeply angry with Mbu, for allegedly turning to a politician, which he keeps denying, while insisting that he remains a professional police officer.
Prior to the March this year’s posting of Mbu, an alumnus of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), from Oyo State Police Command to Rivers State and when his predecessor, Mohammed Indabawa, who swapped with him and now in Oyo Command, was Rivers police chief, security at Rivers police headquarters was not so tight.
Preparing for what might happen some weeks after resumption, Mbu ensured that his office was highly fortified with many battle-ready riot policemen on standby with sophisticated arms and the renovated buildings heavily protected, in case of any eventuality and visitors well frisked.
The Rivers police commissioner later described Amaechi as a tyrant and a dictator, while the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) insists that Mbu is regularly holding meetings with his political backers and acting unprofessionally.
The attendants working at a filling station directly opposite the Rivers House of Assembly have tales of woe to tell, especially with the baptism of fire from thugs, supporters of politicians and security operatives who regularly harass them, losing valuable property in the process.
Drivers of taxis and intra-city buses who load from Abali Park and in front of Isaac Boro Park in Mile One or Mile Three, Port Harcourt, moving to William Jumbo Street near Government House; Moscow Road and the old Port Harcourt Township, popularly called Town, have been having it rough.
A taxi driver, Sam Chukwu, who regularly plies Mile One/Moscow Road/Town, complained of low patronage and disruption of business on the route, considering the activities of politicians and security personnel, while urging the stakeholders to quickly resolve their differences.
Port Harcourt-based lawyer, Richard Anthony, stated that the Rivers political crisis was capable of discouraging investors from moving into the state, stressing that no right hinking person would want to invest in a volatile area.
Anthony stressed that alternative dispute resolution strategies should be embraced, while also calling on elders to quickly intervene for the warriors to sheathe their swords.
The Executive Director of the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL), Anyakwee Nsirimovu, said it was obvious that President Jonathan and his wife were behind the Rivers crisis, but simply pretending.
Nsirimovu declared that Amaechi was being persecuted for resisting the federal might and insisting on due process, while protecting the interests of Rivers people, especially on the issue of Kalabari oil wells being ceded to President Jonathan’s Bayelsa state.
A renowned human rights activist, Ken Atsuwete, also a lawyer, said President Jonathan, Dame Patience, Wike and other alleged enemies of progress should leave Amaechi alone and not distract him on his transformation agenda, insisting that power belongs to God and that the ‘Abuja forces’ should stop intimidating the home-based politicians.
A PDP stalwart, Collins Onunwo, who is also a loyalist of the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, and the Obio/Akpor LG Chairman of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), which has Wike as grand patron, posited that Ameachi needed help.
Onunwo said: “As a Rivers man and a member of the PDP from Obio/Akpor LGA, let me tell the whole world that Amaechi does not take advice. We have advised him on many occasions, but he will not listen.
“Former Rivers Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, also knows that Amaechi does not take advice. He behaves as if he knows it all. Nobody is perfect.”
Militants are now letting loose in Rivers state, heightening fear that the crude oil and gas-rich state may soon become ungovernable, which may pave the way for the declaration of a state of emergency, thereby removing Amaechi through the back door.
The representative of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, who is an Ogoni from Bera in Gokana LGA, is optimistic that justice will eventually be done.
Abe, a former Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), said: “Somebody (Chief Felix Obuah, aka Go Round, being backed by Wike, also a former chairman of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State, where the ex-governor Odili hails from) who neither picked form nor contested election, is now the chairman of PDP in Rivers State.
“Rivers people, hold your peace. Do not go for war. The Judiciary has done it before and will do it again. The will of Rivers people and the will of God will be done.”
The representative of Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro constituency of Rivers state in the National Assembly, Dakuku Adolphus Peterside, who hails from coastal Opobo, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro LGA of Rivers state, stresses that Amaechi is being victimised for insisting on the truth.
Peterside also asked the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to with immediate effect, redeploy the Rivers police commissioner from Rivers State for allegedly acting unprofessionally.
Since May 6, the Otelemaba Dan Amachree-led Rivers House of Assembly could not sit in view of the withdrawal of police protection from the lawmakers, especially the 27 pro-Amaechi legislators.
The PDP in Rivers State, however, condemned the resolution of the House of Representatives to take over the state Assembly.
Rivers factional Chairman Obuah enjoined the party’s faithful, Port Harcourt residents and other people in Rivers State to go about their normal duties without fear.
Obuah said: “Rivers PDP condemns the action of the House of Representatives in its totality. The federal lawmakers should not take over the functions of the members of the Rivers House of Assembly.
“The members of the House of Representatives accused Mbu of playing a script. Whose script are the members of the House of Representatives playing?
“The decisions of the members of the House of Representatives are not reflecting the total view of the people of Rivers State. We are law-abiding people. We are thanking the senators for the maturity displayed in handling the Rivers State crisis. We urge others to toe the line.
“The Rivers Commissioner of Police is a core professional. He refused to play their script. Since Mbu resumed in Rivers State in March, there has been peace and order in Rivers State with crime rate drastically reduced.”
While commenting on the injured anti-Amaechi lawmakers, especially Michael Okechukwu Chinda, who represents Obio/Akpor II constituency, the Rivers PDP chairman said in view of the seriousness of the injuries sustained, he might be flown abroad for further treatment.
Without formal communication, soldiers guarding the Government House, Port Harcourt and two Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) have been withdrawn.
The Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, described the development as very strange, while urging the Federal Government and the Nigerian Army not to expose Amaechi and other occupants of the Brick House (Government House) to danger.
In view of the frosty relationship with the Rivers police commissioner; he noted that withdrawing the soldiers at this crucial period was very unfortunate, in bad taste and ill-timed.
It was later discovered that the Commanding Officer of Elele Barracks in Rivers State, politely effected the withdrawal of the soldiers and APCs from the Government House, Port Harcourt, based on “order from above.”
While commenting on the “sudden” withdrawal of the soldiers and APCs, Amaechi described it as shocking, declaring that he and other Rivers people, especially his supporters, had been under siege.
The Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said: “There is no official communication from the Nigerian Army or the Federal Government on the withdrawal of the soldiers and APCs. I am with the Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG, George Feyii) and he has not been notified.”
There is an uneasy calm in Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State, over the deepening crisis in the PDP with the pro and anti-Amaechi lawmakers backed by Wike restrategising.
The Rivers House of Assembly remained sealed off with soldiers and policemen intensifying patrol of the major roads and streets of Port Harcourt and its environs, to prevent the breakdown of law and order.
The Public Relations Officer of the 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, Major Michael Etete, said he was not aware of who authorised the withdrawal of the soldiers and the APCs from the Government House, Port Harcourt.
The Chief of Staff said: “Before I left the Government House, Port Harcourt on July 10, the Commanding Officer of Elele Barracks said he was on a mission to withdraw the soldiers and the two APCs in Government House. That he was acting on superior order.
“The two APCs were in Government House, Port Harcourt, before Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi became the governor of Rivers state. Why withdrawing them now with the soldiers at a time Mbu is not relating well with us?
“Withdrawing the soldiers and APCs portends great danger. With the situation of things, the Rivers Commissioner of Police cannot be trusted with the protection of Government House and its occupants, having taken sides in the political crisis.
“The primary purpose of government is the protection of lives and property of the citizens. The Federal Government and the Nigerian Army should ensure immediate return of the soldiers and the APCs to the Government House, Port Harcourt.
“We are law-abiding citizens and the Rivers State government is made up of peace-loving people. We will not resort to self-help, but the Federal Government should do the right thing and must not play politics with the lives of the governor and other occupants of the Government House, Port Harcourt.”
The presiding judge adopted the affidavit of the Chairman of the PDP, Edo State chapter, Dan Orbih, who in his affidavit stated that the results being paraded by Ake, did not emanate from the congress that he conducted in Rivers state.
In an attempt to fight back and hit Wike, 27 of the 32 members of the Rivers House of Assembly, loyal to Amaechi, on April 22 suspended the Chairman of Obio/Akpor LG, Prince Timothy Nsirim; his deputy, Solomon Eke; and all the seventeen councillors.
The five pro-Wike lawmakers: Michael Chinda (Obio/Akpor II constituency), Kelechi Godspower Nwogu (Omuma), Evans Bipi (Ogu/Bolo), Martins Amaewhule (Obio/Akpor I) and Victor Ihunwo (Port Harcourt III), refused to support the suspension.
A seven-member caretaker committee, headed by Chikordi David Dike, was screened by members of the Rivers Assembly on April 23 and inaugurated on the same day by the Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), George Feyii, but could not function at the secretariat, still sealed off by the police, on order from above.
On April 29, the Obuah-led PDP suspended the 27 pro-Amaechi lawmakers from the PDP, for refusing to reinstate Nsirim and other officials of Obio/Akpor LG, but they proceeded to court and got an injunction restraining the party from taking further steps, until the determination of the substantive suit, which is still being heard.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP decided to wield the big stick by later suspending Amaechi for anti-party activities, with the NGF chairman declaring that he might move to an unnamed political party, if the PDP leadership refused to ensure justice.
The national leadership of the ruling party wanted Amaechi to reinstate the suspended officials of the Obio/Akpor LG, but the youthful governor insisted that it was the business of the lawmakers, who were investigating them for alleged corruption and should be allowed to perform their duties.
The warring groups are jostling for Rivers state’s over two million votes, ahead of the 2015 elections, but care must be taken not to heat up the polity, while the warriors must sheathe their swords and give peace a chance, to ensure development.
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