Eleven (11) governors under the auspices of the Progressive Governors Forum has indicted President Goodluck Jonathan of using the powers of his office to intimidate the governor of Rivers State Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
This is in their reaction to the sordid treatment meted on Ameachi during the week when he alongside a group of 102 former speakers of state Houses of Assembly Assembly were barricaded from gaining access into the government house via the Forces Avenue.
There are however mixed reactions trailing the incident since it’s occurrence on Thursday.
It was learnt that the policemen were allegedly deployed by the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu, to bar Amaechi from the Government House through the route.
In a statement by the governors comprising; Borno State Governor, Kashim Shetima; Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole; Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha; Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola; Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Almakura; Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola; Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi; Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Geldam; and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari decried theincident and described it as gradualdescent of the country into a state of anarchy.
The statement was entitled “Blockade to Rivers Government House: Assault on Constitution and Descent to Anarchy”.
The governors reacted thus; “A situation whereby the Federal Government will use powers vested in it under the constitution to bully and intimidate state governments is unacceptable and should be resisted by every democratic government.
“We wish to unequivocally state our resolve to work with all democrats in the country to ensure adequate protection of democratic governance.’’
The governors’ statement came just as some Nigerians condemned the action of the police authorities in Rivers and the police insisted that they did not bar the governor from accessing Government House.
The statement revealed that the governors said they were in “shock and disbelief” when the news reached them.
Besides they see the crisis which has been brewing in Rivers state since July 2013 as “a major threat to the nation’s democracy”.
“In the specific case of Rivers State, provisions of Section 215(4) of the 1999 Constitution must be fully respected. This section provides that the Governor “may give to the Commissioner of Police of that state such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and security of public safety and public order within the state as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with”, it was maintained.
However, they decried the inability of the presidency to exercise all the necessary constitutional and moral authority to ensure the speedy resolution of the crisis had remained a source of danger for the nation’s democracy , the life of Amaechi and those of other public officers serving in the state.
The governors insisted that the action of the men of the police force was a bad precedent and wondered if it was a signal that a similar blockade could be mounted against the President at the Presidential Villa.
Besides, a renowned lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), and the National Vice President, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, Mr. Taiwo Otitolaye, told the media through separate phone interviews that the police action was a threat to democracy.
Sagay said, “It is a breach of everything. It should not be seen to happen in a civilized society or a democratic society.”
On his part, Sagay described the police action as a breach of the rule of law, a breach of the right of the freedom of the movement of the governor; a breach of Amaechi’s right to go to his office and an inhumane act while Otitolaye described it as an undemocratic act.
“We condemn it in strong terms. It is worrisome to us now that we are not in a military dictatorship. We do not want to revert to that era of military dictatorship. We ask that the presidency should not use the police or other security apparatus for any undemocratic adventure”, Otitolaye said.
But the president’s faction of the Peoples Democratic Party as well as the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) have totally denied the story.
In a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, the command denied the story that a blockade was instituted to bar the governor from entering the Government.
“The story is incorrect, false, fictitious and wrong in its entirety and it is calculated to mislead the people of Rivers State, Nigerians and the general public. The Nigeria Police Force deems it necessary to place in proper perspective the event that gave rise to the wrong information being peddled in the media.’’
“The attention of the police command has been drawn to stories making the round in the media that the police blocked the road to the Rivers State Government House in Port Harcourt, denying His Excellency, Governor Chibuike Amaechi ,access to the Government House”, the statement further read.
Also the PDP added it town part of the denial of the story when the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, alleged that the story was a fabrication of lies by Amaechi.
Metuh said the that the governor misled Nigerians by creating an impression that he was prevented from entering the government house.
“This distortion of facts is totally unacceptable and unbefitting of a state governor,” Metu said,
He also said that this is linked to the fact that Amaechi was aware that based on the ruling of the courts, the police had sealed off “a secretariat illegally opened by some individuals under the name, flag and colour of the PDP”.
But the ex-Speakers who were in Port Harcourt for a meeting did not see the situation as a child’s play hence, they described it as a sign of the country’s regression to “the dark days of the former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha”.
The Chairman of the former Speakers’ Forum Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong, further described the action of the state police command as the highest level of impunity in the country.
Lalong who is also and ex-Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, urged the National Assembly to call for the resignation of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar.
Lalong said, “I don’t think it is really police overzealousness, but the police are controlled by higher authorities. So, if that is what is happening, I think people should collectively call for the resignation of the Inspector-General of Police.
“Very soon, maybe they will start arresting people in their houses. I wonder what is really happening. I think the President must intervene in this issue.”
Also in reaction to the issue, a statement signed in Abuja by the National Publicity Secretary of the “New PDP” faction, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, on Friday, said many events in the country had shown that democracy was not being allowed to thrive.
“Indeed, General Sani Abacha must be lamenting in his grave that Nigerians wrongly abused him considering the high degree of impunities being encouraged in a democratic set up, with the Police being used as a tool to haunt political opponents,” the faction said.
Also on Friday, Ameachi recalled in the incident in a statement which read thus: “All of you saw how the former Speakers came down from the vehicle to tell them (police) where we were coming from, but the Police resisted.
“It is for Nigerians to see that we no longer have democracy in this country. We are now in a regime where the law is no longer supreme. We must rise up against this impunity against our democracy.”
“The National Assembly and the various state houses of assembly should address the retirement and welfare of the ex-lawmakers, it is very important.
Other stakeholders in the country including member of the house of assembly and the Chairman, House Committee on Downstream, Mr. Dakuku Peterside; a former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora; a former chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Oyo State, Mr. Akin Oke.