MUCH ADO ABOUT RIVERS CRISIS

When it comes to Nigeria's economy, I wont be wrong if I describe Rivers state as the heartbeat of our great nation ,it is also devoid of fallacy if I say that Gov Rotimi Amaechi is one of the key players in Nigerian Politics (especially after his May 24 2013 NGF election victory despite all odds).Rivers State has soared has experienced different turmoil and chaos in the past such as the ALUU4 , Niger Delta militancy saga etc. but the recent mayhem which some people describe has political, is very shambolic, this is because it involves the not just elephants but big, matured adult elephants and buffalos.

Below, is a timeline which can be linked to the present mayhem in Rivers state.....

August 24, 2010
First Lady, Patience Jonathan, publicly scolded Mr. Amaechi in Anyugubiri, Okirika, Rivers State, her home town, for not entering into dialogue with the people of the community over his plan to pull down some structures around a Model School project being constructed by the state government to create a decent space for learning.

August 25, 2010
The Chairman of Okirika Local Government, Tamunokro Oba, believed to be the first cousin of Mrs. Jonathan resigned his position. It was alleged that after Mr. Amaechi’s altercation with the First Lady, the governor forced the former council boss to throw in the towel, but the state government denied the claim.
Almost three years later…

February 25, 2013
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, announced the creation of its own Governors Forum. The PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, presented the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, as the forum’s chairman. The establishment of the forum was alleged to be part of the plot to whittle down the influence of Mr. Amaechi whose handling of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, the ruling party and the Presidency were not comfortable with. They also allegedly wanted to frustrate the re-emergence of the Mr. Amaechi as NGF chairman.

February 25,2013
Mr. Amaechi survived plot to remove him as NGF Chair just as the election of a new chairman of the forum was pushed to May when the governor was expected to end his first term.

April 6,2013
From Ikogosi in Ekiti State, Mr. Amaechi said some people were plotting to remove him as NGF chair because of his stance on fraud in the oil sector as well as Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF. A major opposition governor, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, also stated that Mr. Amaechi would win the NGF chairmanship election, showing clearly that Mr. Amaechi had the backing of major opposition parties.

April 16,2013
The national leadership of PDP inaugurated a new executive committee for the Rivers State Chapter of the party to replace the Godspower Ake-led executive, which was sacked earlier in the day by an Abuja High Court. The new executive, led by Felix Obuah, is reportedly loyal to the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, a political rival of the state governor.

April 18,2013
The office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, invited the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari, to Abuja to provide details on the security helicopters purchased by the state government.

April 19,2013
The new Rivers State PDP executive announced intention to probe Mr. Amaechi and other public office holders in the state. In a statement by its chairman, Felix Obuah, the party said it would audit the activities of all elected officials vis-a-vis the projects executed by them and budgetary provisions therein to confirm if fiscal responsibility was adhered to.

April 22,2013
There was crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly as the chairman of Obio/AkporCouncil, Timothy Nsirim; his deputy and 17 councillors were suspended over allegations of reckless spending without due process as well as security breaches. The chairman and the councillors were reportedly loyal to Nyesom Wike who hails from the area. The House had on April 17 set up a committee to investigate them.

April 26,2013
Mr. Amaechi’s private aircraft belonging to Rivers State was grounded at the Akure Airport. He had flown in the Global 5000 Bombardier Jet to Akure en route Ado Ekiti to attend the funeral of the late Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Olufunmilayo Olayinka.

May 24, 2013
Mr. Amaechi defeated his Plateau State counterpart, Jonah Jang, by 19 votes to 16 to retain his seat as the NGF chairman. However, Mr. Jang and 15 other governors, including Mr. Akpabio, kicked against the result, alleging rigging by Mr. Amaechi. This led to the emergence of two factions of NGF.

May 27,2013
The National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, suspended Mr. Amaechi, who was celebrating his 48th birthday for refusing a directive to recall the suspended Chairman and Councillors of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The same day, the party set up an 11-member committee headed by Joe Gadzama to investigate the governor.

May 27,2013
At an interactive session, the Rivers governor raised the alarm that his life was in danger and begged for prayers. He said, “I want to say the way these people at the federal level are acting, they may come after my life. So, when you pray, pray for me,” he said at the session tagged “Consolidating on Rivers of our Dreams.”

May 30,2013
The Jang faction opened a parallel secretariat of NGF at No 2 Nana Close, Maitama District, Abuja. Governors at the ceremony were Idris Wada (Kogi), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Mukhtar Yero (Kaduna), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), and Ibrahim Shema (Katsina). Others were Theodore Orji (Abia), Peter Obi (Anambra), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Garba Umar (Acting Gov, Taraba), Steve Lawani (Deputy, Benue) and deputy governor of Gombe State.

May 31,2013
Mr. Amaechi headed for court to challenge his suspension from the PDP. Justice Emmanuel Ogbuji of Rivers State High court stopped the party from taking further action against the governor until hearing on the substantive suit was held. He ordered that the status quo be maintained.

June 4,2013
The Rivers state Governor vowed not to quit as NGF Chairman, saying the mandate was freely given to him by his colleague-governors. He stated this in an interview with journalists after inspecting the NGF Secretariat in the Asokoro District of Abuja. It was his first visit to the secretariat since the May 24 election. He was accompanied by Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.

June 5,2013
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, in his capacity as a member of NGF filed a suit in an FCT High Court asking the court to stop Mr. Jang from parading “himself as the elected Chairman of the NGF in any manner whatsoever and howsoever.”

June 14,2013
Wife of the President and First Lady, Patience Jonathan, an indigene of Rivers State, arrived in Port Harcourt to begin a 10-day visit to Rivers State. On her arrival, she rejected the accommodation provided for her by the State Government. She reportedly expressed anger that Mr. Amaechi was not at the airport personally to welcome her. Residents of Rivers State allegedly suffocated due to heavy security presence everywhere. She also attended the marriage ceremony of a member of the state legislature, Evans Bipi. She also said in a statement by her aide that she was not in the state to facilitate Mr. Amaechi’s impeachment.

June 16,2013
In a press statement, Mr. Amaechi warned Mr. Jang to stop impersonating him as his (Jang) actions typified criminality.

June 17, 2013
The Jang faction of the NGF held its first meeting at its new secretariat after which the Plateau State governor replied Mr. Amaechi that he was not an impostor as alleged by the Rivers governor. The faction met with the president that night to brief him on the outcome of the meeting, which was basically premised on the misunderstanding between the 36 states and the Federal Ministry of Finance over FAAC allocation.

June 19, 2013
While playing host to a former Petroleum Minister, Tam David-West, who paid him a solidarity visit, Mr. Amaechi described the State Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, as a security risk.

June 20, 2013
Mr. Mbu fired back describing the governor as “a tyrant and dictator.” He alleged that the governor was after him because he refused to be subservient.

June 26 , 2013
Mr. Amaechi and 16 of the governors belonging to his NGF faction rescheduled their meeting, which was to hold this day, to attend a dinner organised by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa. They had converged on the Rivers State Governors Lodge from where they moved to the Villa. At the meeting, the embattled governor was blocked by Mr. Jonathan’s bodyguards from coming close to greet the president. Mr. Jang was also at the dinner with members of his group.

June 27, 2013
Messrs Amaechi and Jang sat close to each other at the meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC, held at the State House and presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo. Seats were arranged for the governors alphabetically hence their sitting close to each other. The sitting arrangement before now was that the NGF chair would sit directly opposite the vice president, who is the Chairman of NEC, the highest economic policy making body in Nigeria. But on that day, neither the Rivers governor nor his Plateau counterpart was recognised or introduced as the Chairman of NGF.

July 2, 2013
The Rivers Governor asked the Inspector General of Police to redeploy Mr. Joseph Mbu, alleging that the police officer was not only attending meetings with his (Amaechi) political opponents but that the security situation in the state had worsened since he arrived the state. Mr. Amaechi threatened to stop funding the police.

July 2, 2013
The Rivers governor survived an accident as a strange car driven by a man suddenly veered off its lane and rammed into his convoy.

July 3, 2013
Mr. Amaechi instituted a suit in the Rivers State High Court restraining the Felix Obuah-led PDP executive in the state from probing him. The party had on April 19 announced its plan to investigate the governor and other elected officials. Godspower Aguma, the judge, asked the parties to the suit to maintain the status quo and adjourned it to July 30.

July 3, 2013
Some leaders and elders of the PDP in Rivers State paid a solidarity visit to Mr. Jonathan over his face-off with Mr. Amaechi. Among those on the delegation was a former governor of the state, Peter Odili; Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike; acting National Deputy Chairman of PDP, Chibudom Nwuche; and the state PDP chapter chairman, Felix Obuah. Mr. Obuah told the president that the delegation was in the State House to pay their respect to the Jonathan administration for its transformation agenda as well as leadership role in the party. Ibim Semenitari, the Rivers State Commissioner for Information dismissed the leaders’ visit saying they were looking for patronage.

July 9, 2013
Crisis erupted in the Rivers State House of Assembly as hoodlums and some of its members attacked the principal officers of the House. Five members of the House led by Evans Bipi, a former aide to Patience Jonathan, attempted to impeach the Speaker of the House, Otelemaba Amachree, leading to bloodshed. Mr. Amaechi rushed to the House allegedly to curtail the violence; and in the melee, one of his security details was injured and flown abroad for treatment. Mr. Bipi later declared himself the speaker of the assembly.

July 9, 2013
Mr. Amaechi wrote the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, PSC, Mike Okiro, demanding again the redeployment of Joseph Mbu. Copies of the letter were sent to President Jonathan, Senate President David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.

July 10, 2013
Gunshots were heard around the Rivers State Government House in Port Harcourt. The police also fired teargas allegedly to disperse protesters near the government house, while the state government alleged that tear gas was actually fired into the government house.

July 10, 2013
The House of Representatives voted to take over the functions of the Rivers House of Assembly following the protracted crisis in the legislature in accordance with Section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution (amended). The Senate, however, voted to dispatch its Committee on Local Government headed by a former governor of Kano State, on a fact-finding mission.

July 11, 2013
The Senate panel held a closed-door meeting with Mr. Amaechi, though details of the discussion were not made public.

July 11, 2013
The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, set up an investigation team headed by DIG Philemon Leha to investigate the crisis in the state legislature.

July 12, 2013
Mr. Amaechi set up a nine-member Commission of Inquiry on the July 9 mayhem in the state legislature. The Commission, headed by Biobele Georgewill, was asked to submit its report by October 15.

July 16, 2013
Four northern governors paid solidarity visit to Mr. Amaechi. The governors are Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Babangida Aliyu (Niger), who is also the Chairman of Northern States Governors Forum, NSGF. Protesters pelted their convoy during the visit. The four governors thereafter called for the establishment of state police in the country while demanding the removal of the State Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, over his role in the Rivers saga.

July 17, 2013
Lagos Governor, Babatunde Fashola, withdrew the suit he filed against Mr. Jang.

The police declared the Majority Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, wanted and also summoned two of Governor’s Amaechi security officials to Abuja. The same day, the Rivers governor rejected new security details posted to protect him.

The First Lady, Patience Jonathan, opened up on the political crisis in Rivers State while playing host 16 Clergymen from the South-South geo-political zone who visited her at the Presidential Villa. According to her, the misunderstanding with Mr. Amaechi began four years ago in Anyugubiri in Okirika, her home town when she begged the governor to engage her people in a dialogue instead of demolishing a part of the community. Though she referred to Mr. Amaechi as her “son”, the First Lady said the governor was hot tempered.

July 18, 2013
Five governors of Ekiti, Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Osun as well as three deputy governors of Zamfara, Imo and Nasarawa States paid solidarity visits to Mr. Amaechi during which they demanded Mr. Jonathan’s intervention in the lingering crisis. All the governors belong to the parties merging into the All Progressives Congress, APC.

July 19, 2013
Twenty-six lawmakers in the State House of Assembly loyal to Mr. Amaechi warned Mr. Bipi to stop impersonating their Speaker, Otelemabo Amachree, and also pledged to cooperate with the police investigation team.

July 23, 2013
Majority Leader of Rivers State House of Assembly, who was declared missing by the Nigerian Police over his role in the battering of Micheal Chinda during the violence that broke out in the House on July 9 turned up at the Police headquarters Abuja accompanied by his lawyer.


Anifowoshe Titilope Tawakkalt, 300l Law student, University of Ilorin.

AMAECHI/MBA FACE OFF: WHO IS THE CERTIFIED GUARD OF SECURITY IN A STATE???

The conflict between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, rekindles the persistent controversy over the constitutional relationship between governors and Commissioners of Police. The actions,inactions and role played by Security Agencies in the july 9 2013 Rivers State House of Assembly crisis clearly shows how biased and politicized the Rivers State Police Command is. WHEN Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State dared the state commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, to shoot him on Tuesday 18th june 2013, he inevitably rekindled memories of the famous face-off between Governor Jim Nwobodo and Police Commissioner Bishop Eyitene in the Second Republic.Eyitene as commissioner of police in the old Anambra State wielded unprecedented powers that he won to himself the nickname ‘Head of State.’ It was not for nothing. The motorcade of the police commissioner in sophistication and style overwhelmed that of the governor. The security around both his residence and office according to some reports made the governor’s entourage look like that of a local government chairman. Remarkably, Commissioner Eyitene did not make any pretence of it.Indeed, the story is told of how during a quiz competition between two secondary schools in the state when the question was asked “Who is the Head of State,” and most of the students replied, Mr. Eyitene. And thus, the nickname Head of State stuck to the commissioner. As the principal security agent of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN controlled Federal Government to Anambra State, Eyitene became something of an albatross around the Nigerian Peoples Party, NPP that controlled Anambra State at that time.He was repeatedly accused by the NPP and the state administration of backing the NPN and her principal officers in the state such as Chief Christian Onoh and Ikemba Nnewi, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu who was to turn into his son-law in due season.On at least 12 occasions, Eyitene was summoned to appear before the state high court presided over by Justice Okadigbo on sundry issues and on the 12 occasions, Eyitene declined. That was despite the massive publicity that the state controlled media gave to the summons on the police commissioner.

The Nigerian 1999 Constitution places the task of policing the entire country on the shoulders of the federal government. The operation, control, discipline and promotion of the police force are under the powers of the federal government of Nigeria. Section 214 of that Constitution provides that the Nigerian Police Force shall be under the full and exclusive control of the federal government.The situation where a state governor is the chief security officer of his state only in words and not indeed, leaves much to be desired. Section 215 of the 1999 constitution, sub section (2) states inter alia that ‘’the Nigeria police command shall be under the command of the Inspector General of Police and any contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in state shall, subject to the authority of the Inspector General of Police be under the command of the commissioner of that state”.
Sub section 4 of the same section further diluted the power of the state governor over the commissioner of police in his state. While the section allows the governor of a state to give lawful directives to the commissioner of police in his state for the maintenance of law and order, it whittled it down with this caveat, ”provided that before caring out any such directions the commissioner of police may request that the matter be referred to the President or such Minister of the government of the federation as may be authorized in that behalf by the President for his directions”. And sub section 5 of the same section provides an ouster clause that “) The question whether any, and if so what, directions have been given under this section shall not be inquired into in any court.”
This provision is absurd and does not accord with the urgency and nature of security matters in a country such as ours. What it means is that a police commissioner in any state can vehemently say no to directives from his host governor. He has the backing of the constitution. Meanwhile, Nigerians continue to suffer and live under worsening security situation in the country.

AS events unfolds in Rivers state do you think the provisions of SEC 215(4)(5) is most appropriate for a country like Nigeria?. The Constitution is said to be the Fundamental Law of the land, and the purport of the Law is to do justice,equity and fairness in all ramification, now the issue of creation of State Police has to come in here, because I am looking at this Amaechi/Mba Face off from two different perception 1.the fact that the State police is under the finger tips of the Presidency and as we all know "he who pays the piper dictates the tune" 2. the Fact that the governor is "meant" to be the Chief security officer of his state.

I am an advocate of creation of State police, but in all fairness the events in Rivers state is gradually changing my stand already. I know that Nigeria has once walked through the road of State policing under the 1953 Constitution but ended up in complete failure Then the police were under regional governments, but they were grossly abused by politicians. Therefore, there is a clear indication that if we return to this system, this crop of politicians will also abuse it. One may be quick to argue that the role of the police under the present dispensation is being abused by the federal government, that it is used against the opposition. This argument can best be answered by looking at two agencies - the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC). An amendment made to the Electoral Act created SIEC which conducts elections into local governments which had previously been handled by INEC. Since its creation, no state in Nigeria has boasted of two chairmen from opposition parties. SIEC declares the ruling party in the state as the winners of all the contested seats in local government elections.

Indirectly the Nigerian Constitution has given errant Mba enough back up to question the orders of Amaechi, but should thimgs continue like this?? what is the purport of the "grundnorm" if the security and order of a state cannot be statutorily guarded by the chief security officer of that state?? WHAT AN IRONY!!!
MAY GOD'S WILL BE DONE

ANIFOWOSHE TITILOPE TAWAKKALT, 300l Law student University of Ilorin.
ff @classicaltiti