A member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Kelechi Nwogu, on Saturday told Channels Television via a telephone interview that Police had received two letters from two different Speakers, notifying them of their intention to resume session.
Speaking on Sunrise, Mr Nwogu who had initially denied the existence of factions among lawmakers, said that Evans Bipi, who he (Nwogu) referred to as ‘Speaker’ “had issued a statement that the house was supposed to reconvene on Friday and sent a letter to the Police” but the Police informed Mr Bipi that they received a letter from another party also claiming to be Speaker.”
According to him, this caused the Police to barricade the House of Assembly as a means to avoid the repetition of violent acts which led to the National Assembly take-over in the first instance.
Nwogu also said the “National Assembly took the Rivers State job in a hurry” and added that the authenticity of the recognised Speaker, Otelemaba Amachree, must be ascertained before progress can be made.
In July, mayhem broke following an attempt by 5 members of the House, led by Hon. Evans Bipi to impeach the Speaker, Amachree.
5 months later, Justice Ahmed Ramat of a Federal High Court in Abuja declared the National Assembly take-over of the Rivers State Assembly as ‘unconstitutional, null and void’ based on NASS’ failure to produce evidence that the State Assembly could not transact legislative business.
On Thursday, and barely 24 hours after the court ruling, the lawmakers gathered for session in front of the State Assembly but were dispersed by the Police.
Speaking on Sunrise, Chairman of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, Olanrewaju Suraj, said that the crisis which has engulfed the state is as a result of the competition between two political opponents which the judiciary and the (presiding) judge pretended to be “completely oblivious” of.
“The only thing that judge (and the judiciary) has done with the decision on that Wednesday is to bring about the total collapse of Nigeria” because “what you had in Rivers State prior to the intervention of the National Assembly was a dangerous trend.”
The President, Leadership Watch, Martins Nwayawu, agreed with Mr Suraj’s assessment of the situation and added that the ruling of the judge showed that “he is living in a different planet.”
He continued by saying “no judge in his right senses would sit somewhere and give a judgment that the members of Rivers State House of Assembly can go back to resume their legislative functions.”
Security expert, Oladeinde Ariyo, faulted actions of men of the Police in barricading the State Assembly Complex on basis that it did not receive instructions to permit the lawmakers to enter.
In light of the unresolved issues amongst the lawmakers, a peace meeting should have been called to help reconcile their difference in order to avoid violence.