Police tear-gas Rivers lawmakers •Stop them from reconvening

THE political crisis in Rivers State reached another crescendo Thursday as men of the state police command tear-gassed members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and journalists in Port Harcourt.
Members of the state’s House of Assembly who are aligned with the state governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, had attempted to access the premises of the House of Assembly to resume legislative proceedings following the judgement of an Abuja High Court, which insisted the National Assembly had no right to assume the functions of the state assembly.

But men of the state’s police command, about 100 of them, led by the Port Harcourt Area Commander, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Aliyu Garba, would not allow the legislators near the complex, a situation the lawmakers vehemently resisted.

The situation started getting heated when the legislators suspected there was something the police was hiding, suspecting the six members opposed to the governor might have been given access, the other members, about 24 of them, demanded that their leader, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Leyii Kwanee, be allowed in to see if there was no foul play.

The following dialogue happened between the Deputy Speaker, Kwanee and the leader of the police team.

Kwanee: We are here to see the commissioner of police.

Garba: The commissioner of police is not on ground as we speak.

Kwanee: We are prepared to see the officer next to him.

Garba: I am sorry, that will not be possible for now.

Kwanee: Then you should allow us to go into the Assembly complex.

Garba: You cannot go into the House of Assembly complex without the official approval of the commissioner of police. That issue is a security matter.

Kwanee: Are you saying that security will ground to a halt in the state because the commissioner is not on ground?

Garba: I have told you, you cannot enter into the premises of the House of Assembly without the consent of the commissioner of police. If you want to enter the House of Assembly complex, go and bring the certified copy of the judgement of the court that ordered that the Rivers State House of Assembly should sit.

Kwanee: The police was not a party to the case. The police did not lock the Assembly on the strength of a court order. So, why do the police want a court order before it opens the Assembly complex?

Garba: You cannot sidetrack the police when it comes to the security of the Rivers State House of Assembly complex.

But the refusal of the police to allow even the deputy speaker into the assembly provoked an angry reaction from the members, who almost challenged the police for holding them down from obeying the court judgement.

In defiance to the police action, the lawmakers decided to hold a mock session on the open street, saying they would not allow the police to intimidate them from obeying the court judgement or restrict them from carrying out their duties.

While the mock session was ongoing, policemen, obviously having been directed to dislodge the mock sitting, ordered all present, starting with journalists, to evacuate the area and before people could start moving, the policemen had started firing tear gas into the crowd, dispersing the mock sitting and the crowd watching, including journalists.

Moments later, journalists saw the state Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, whom some of his men described as ‘governor’, laughing as his men briefed him on how they put the lawmakers, as well as the crowd, to flight.

Meanwhile, during a press briefing before the tear gas attack, Kwanee had told journalists that members of the legislature would protect the democracy in the state, calling on all Nigerians not to reduce the political crisis in the state to a local one.

“We are here to tell Nigerians and the world as it relates to the impunity going on in Rivers State and we want to charge Nigerians that this is not just a Rivers problem, that they should rise up in defence of our democracy because if we do not rise up and defend our democracy, history and posterity will not forgive us.

“As Rivers men and as lawmakers, voted to represent the Rivers people, we are ready to fight and defend the mandate of our people. We want to assure you that there’s no going back, we are resolute and we are committed to this cause, if needs be we are ready to sacrifice our lives to this cause,” he said

Also speaking, the interim state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Davis Ikenya Ibiamu, condemned the action of the police, calling on the National Assembly to step into the crisis again.

“You see how power is being used against the people. The majority of the lawmakers in the state House of Assembly want to visit the commissioner of police, but the police have refused to allow them see the Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu.

“We suspect that the five opposition lawmakers are going to be sneaked into the House to conduct proceedings. The APC considers this development unnecessary and unacceptable. If the commissioner of police believes he is doing his professional duties, then he should allow the public to see it as such.

“We call on the National Assembly. We call on the past presidents of Nigeria. We call on Nigerians to condemn what is happening today. Rivers State is under siege. The action of the police in preventing the 25 lawmakers from entering the House of Assembly complex is provocative. We are waiting to see whether they will allow the other five lawmakers to enter the House, sit and attempt to impeach the governor,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rivers State representatives at the National Assembly have urged the police high command to provide an enabling environment for lawmakers of the state assembly to resume legislative business.

The appeal came on the heels of an Abuja Federal High Court ruling which transferred legislative business back to the lawmakers. Prior to the ruling, the National Assembly was in charge of the activities of the state assembly following the crisis that engulfed it.

The national legislators also expressed disapproval of the police conduct which denied lawmakers access to the assembly complex.

Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, on Thursday, on behalf of other National Assembly members from the state, the chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Senator Magnus Abe, representing Rivers South East, called on the police to ensure peace for the lawmakers to get back to legislative business following the court ruling
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