The Presidency has advised security
agencies to ensure that Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi was
investigated and prosecuted after his tenure in office for his alleged
involvement in Tuesday’s mayhem in the state House of Assembly.
The advice was given just as the Action
Congress of Nigeria urged the Police Service Commission to address the
causes of the fracas in the House rather than the symptoms in its
investigation of the role of the police in the crisis.
The comments by the Presidency and the
ACN followed a July 9 petition by Amaechi to Jonathan on the free
for all that led to infliction of injuries on some lawmakers following
an attempt to impeach the Speaker of the House, Mr. Daniel Amachree by a
group led by Mr. Evans Bipi.
Amaechi had in the petition which was
also addressed to the PSC Chairman, Mike Okiro, requested the
immediate transfer of the Commissioner in charge of the state Police
Command, Joseph Mbu.
He also sent copies of the petition in
which he detailed Mbu’s alleged atrocities to Senate President David
Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.
But the Presidency through the Special
Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, wondered why
the governor’s priority should be on the redeployment of the police
commissioner at a time when efforts were ongoing to fly an injured
lawmaker, Michael Chinda, abroad for treatment.
Gulak, in an interview with one of our
correspondents in Abuja on Saturday, however gave an assurance that
the President would look at the merits and demerits of Amaechi’s etition before taking a decision.
Insisting that the governor should be
held responsible for the fracas, the Presidential aide reminded Amaechi that the immunity from prosecution which he currently enjoys as
a governor would end on expiration of his tenure.
He therefore asked security agencies to investigate the fracas thoroughly and keep the file.
Gulak said, , "It is true that as a sitting governor, he enjoys immunity but immunity cannot be forever.
“Security agencies should investigate
the matter (fracas) thoroughly and keep the file because I still find it
amazing and tragic for the governor to go into the House of Assembly to
play active role in the fracas. It amazes me.
“But one thing is sure, the President
will read through his (Amaechi’s) petition. He will study it and look at
its merits and demerits. It is after that that the President will
direct relevant authorities appropriately on the matter.
“The governor had a game plan from the
beginning. He wants the commissioner of police redeployed. He is not
talking about a member of the House of Assembly who is the Majority
Leader and his (Amaechi) security details beat to a coma.
“The lawmaker has been in a coma since
that incident on Tuesday and will be flown abroad for treatment. The
governor is not talking about that one, his major preoccupation is the
redeployment of the police commissioner."
But the Rivers State Government and
the ACN, said Amaechi’s quick intervention prevented the free-for-all
in the House of Assembly from escalating.
The Chief of Staff, Rivers State
Government House, Port Harcourt, Mr. Tony Okocha, argued that Gulak should have called for an inquiry into how thugs gained entrance
into the House.
"It is most unreasonable to contemplate.
Rather conversely, Amaechi ought to be commended for his brave
intervention and rescue mission even at the risk of his life. Gulak
should be suggesting an inquiry into how armed thugs got into the
Assembly and at whose behest," he said in an SMS message to The PUNCH.
"He (Gulak) should be able to absolve
the Presidency from complicity knowing the relationship between Bipi
and the Presidency. Nigerians are better aware than he thinks," Okocha
added.
The Police headquarters has however
summoned the orderly to Amaechi, who was captured in a video engaging in
a brawl with a lawmaker during the fracas in the House.
"It is true that the police orderly who
played a prominent role in the fracas has been summoned by the IG. He
was captured in the video engaging in a fight with a lawmaker contrary
to Force discipline and code of conduct for officers," a source close
to Louis Edet headquarters of the force said on Sunday.
Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed
Abubakar, had set up a panel headed by the Deputy Inspector-General of
Police in-charge of Operations, Philemon Leha, to probe the impasse.
When contacted on Sunday, the Deputy
Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said investigation into the
crisis was ongoing and that the force would not hesitate to invite
anyone involved in the incident.
"You are aware that the investigation
panel set up by the IG has begun its work; so anyone found to have
participated in the fracas can be invited . Everyone that played a
role in the incident will be summoned,” he said.
The ACN, in a statement on Sunday by
its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said a
statement credited to PSC Chairman, Mike Okiro, suggested that the
commission was only interested in the role of the police in the fracas.
It stated that the commission was not
interested in how the police hierarchy in the state wantonly allowed the
flare-up because it was acting to protect certain interests at the
expense of the public.
The statement reads in part, "Governor
Amaechi has documented, in a much-publicised letter to Mr. Okiro, how
the Police Commissioner in Rivers, Mr. Mbu has thrown professionalism to
the winds in pursuing his narrow agenda at the expense of the security
of the state.
"It is on record that this ‘political
policeman’ has worsened the security situation in the state since he
assumed office in February 2013 by undermining the authority of the
Governor as the Chief Security Officer of his state; undermining the
security structure put in place by the State Security Council and
compromising the council to such an extent that members no longer speak
their minds freely during meetings.
"These are the issues we expect a
non-partisan PSC to address with a view to sanctioning whoever it is
that paved the way for the disgraceful show that was put up under the
klieg light last week. While the PSC will be right to sanction even the
policemen shown to have acted badly that day, the sanctions must extend
to their bosses who allowed that to happen."
ACN also insisted that Jonathan, his
aides and the Peoples Democratic Party could not distance themselves
themselves from the Rivers crisis.
It said, "Anyone with a conscience knows
that the root of the problem in Rivers lies in the President’s bedroom,
and no amount of fanciful statements or name calling targeted at those
who are conscientious enough to call a spade a spade will change that.
“This is why we are insisting that the
President must be impeached by the National Assembly for his failure to
respect the rule of law and the constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria which he has taken an oath to uphold."
ThePUNCH
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