Organised labour and civil society
groups are planning a showdown with the Federal Government should the
crisis in Rivers State remain intractable.
The groups told our correspondents on
Saturday that the mass action had become necessary because of the
breakdown of law and order in the state which was threatening the
nation’s democracy.
Even though the Presidency has washed
its hands off the crisis in the state, there have been reports that
President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife, Patience, and their loyalists are
behind the crisis rocking the Rivers State House of Assembly.
A civil rights group, Anti-Corruption
Network, on Saturday threatened that the Presidency should prepare for
the “Egyptian treatment.”
The organisation also gave the
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, one week ultimatum
to remove the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, over
his alleged role in the face-off between the Presidency and Governor
Rotimi Amaechi, failing which it would mobilise the masses and occupy
the Force Headquarters.
The Executive Secretary of the
organisation and former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dino
Melaye, said this in a statement titled; “Touch Amaechi, touch Nigeria”
obtained by our correspondent in Abuja.
He said, “What is going on in Rivers
State is African magic. We leave Amaechi’s life in the hands of Mr.
President and his wife. We give the IGP one week to remove the
Commissioner of Police in Rivers State; failure to do so, we shall
mobilise Nigerians like never before to occupy the Force Headquarters in
Abuja. The President should get ready for the Egyptian treatment.
“Touch Amechi and touch Nigeria. The
abuse of law and order by both the anti-Amaechi legislators and the
Nigerian Police is not only disgraceful but will not be tolerated by the
mass of the people in this country. The Presidency cannot absolve
itself from this satanic manifestation. Who ordered the military
withdrawal from Rivers State Government House?”
Melaye said since the pressure group did
not have another country to call its own, “it will do everything within
the confines of the law to protect Nigeria’s fragile democracy which
the President and his wife do not know how we got it.”
He said, “Usurps will not kill
democracy. The battle to safeguard our democracy is a battle of no
retreat, no surrender. President Jonathan is behaving as if he has no
legacy intentions. Try us and see. I dare the Presidency. Enough is
Enough.”
Labour unions in the state also told SUNDAY PUNCH an indefinite strike by workers might be the solution to the crisis.
The unions are insisting that apart from
the Federal Government and the state government finding a solution to
the impasse in the state assembly, the police must also vacate the
Obio/Akpor Local Government Secretariat.
Already, they have met with the Senate
Committee on Local Government and notified it on the need for the crisis
to be resolved in order to forestall mass protests.
The state Nigeria Labour Congress Cairman, Mr. Chris Oruge, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the NLC leadership was in support of an indefinite strike action.
“The ultimatums we gave in the state
have expired. Among other things, the police are still occupying the
secretariat and we are saying no to that. We are communicating with the
NLC leadership at the national level on our next line of action and we
have their support,” he added.
Similarly, the state Chairman of the
Trade Union Congress, Mr. Chika Onuegbu, said the TUC was ready to join
the NLC on an indefinite strike.
Onuegbu called on Nigerians, including
civil societies to join labour in its effort to resolve the crisis in
Rivers, stating that it was “wrong for politicians to allow their antics
to negatively affect the lives of Nigerians that voted them into
power.”
Reacting to the calls for mass action,
the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police, Mr.
Frank Mba, told one of our correspondents on Saturday that Nigerians
were free to protest if it was done legally.
“We are in a democratic society and
people are free to hold protests. However, it must be done within the
confines of the law. Law and order must not be broken down. Anyone that
breaches the law won’t be allowed to go,” he said.
Meanwhile, any attempt by President
Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in the state is likely
to hit a brick wall in the National Assembly, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.
Senators and members of the House of
Representatives who spoke to our correspondents over the weekend
declared they would not approve a request for emergency rule should the
President forward one.
Eleven opposition governors, who are
members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, All Nigeria Peoples Party,
Congress for Progressive Change and All Progressives Grand Alliance, in a
statement on Thursday had said there was an “ill-disguised attempt to
create a state of emergency in Rivers State by plunging the state into a
needless and avoidable crisis.”
The Governor of Niger State, Babangida
Aliyu, had further alleged that the Commissioner of Police in the state
had become the “governor of the state.”
However, the Presidency through the
Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, had
denied the plan to declare a state of emergency in the state.
But speculation has persisted that a state of emergency will soon be declared in Rivers.
Speaking on Friday, the Senate Minority
Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, said the Senate was neither contemplating
nor planning to suggest the declaration of a state of emergency in the
state.
Solomon said, “The President cannot declare a state of emergency on his own without the support of the National Assembly.
“We are not contemplating a state of
emergency in Rivers; this is without prejudice to the expected report of
the Senate committee tasked to investigate the crisis in that state.”
Also in Abuja, the Leader of the Senate,
Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, told one of our correspondents that no one
had approached the upper legislature with a request for a state of
emergency to be declared in the troubled state.
Ndoma-Egba said, “We sent our committee
on a fact-finding mission. That is all we know at the moment. We are not
aware of any plans to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.
“We have taken a position and we have to await the report of the committee that we have assigned to investigate the matter.”
On its part, the House of
Representatives was categorical that it would not support any move to
declare a state of emergency in the state.
Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Mr.
Leo Ogor, told one of our correspondents, “The situation in Rivers
State does not call for a state of emergency. We have not reached there
yet and there are no signs that we will reach there.”
He argued that a disagreement between two factions of a state legislature was not enough to warrant a state of emergency.
The House leader noted that the
conditions for a state of emergency were clearly defined under Section
305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The Senate Committee on States and Local
Government, which was mandated to investigate the crisis in Rivers
State, has since commenced work.
Information available to SUNDAY PUNCH
indicated that the committee met with Amaechi on Thursday and had
slated other meetings with other parties in the dispute within the next
three days.
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It is really time to tame this woman and her husband - the Jonathans. This country does not belong to them, they happened to be where they are by mere chance and since they never fought or campaigned or it, they don't value it. The democracy that brought them in there was fought for with so many lives lost, yet here they are rubbishing it.
ReplyDeleteConsequence of voting by sympathy.
ReplyDeleteThe president has said he is not in anyway involved, yet pple write Nonesence. Amaechi should use his brain and redress. The story of wat happened at the River state house is twisted but bliev me the truth will soon show. Watch d video criticaly and point out Bipi and CHIDI Lloyd
ReplyDeleteOBJ should be held responsible by forcing incompetent leaders to rule and direct Nigerians.
ReplyDelete