Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka on Monday advised President Goodluck Jonathan to halt the ongoing executive impunity in Rivers State, and as well prevent similar recurrences in other parts of the country.
In a statement titled, Cool it, President Goodluck Jonathan,” Soyinka lamented that the increasing flashpoints in the nation have reached an unsustainable level, and responsible governance must accept that it is an urgent duty to diminish, not increase them.
“Even the notoriously short Nigerian memory remains traumatised by recollection of the rape of Anambra that was enabled by the connivance of federal might, and the abandonment of all moral scruples in executive disposition. The people of Ogun State were humiliated by the antics of a power-besotted governor, with their elected legislators locked out of the State Assembly for upwards of a year. That hideous travesty was again made possible by the abusive use of the Police,” he said.
“Even a child in this nation knows that the Police derives its enabling and operational authority from the dictates of the Centre, so there can be no disguising whose will is being executed wherever democratic norms are flouted and the people’s rights ground to mush under dictatorial heels.
“Before the irretrievable point of escalation is reached, we have a duty to sound a collective alarm, even without the lessons of past violations of constitutional rights and apportionments of elected representatives of the people, and their consequences. There is an opportunity in Rivers State to break this spiralling culture of executive impunity – manifested in both subtle and crude ways – that is fast becoming the norm in a post-military dispensation that fitfully aspires to be called a democracy.”
Earlier the same Monday, hordes of youths laid siege on the secretariat of Obio-Akpor Local Government along Port Harcourt International Airport Road to deny Chairman of the caretaker committee, Dike Chikordi and others access to their offices. Chanting anti-Amaechi slogans, they demanded the immediate reinstatement of Timothy Nsirim, the sacked chairman, and other members of his cabinet.
According to Melchizedek Ogonda, one of the point men of the protest, even if the chairman was guilty of the allegations against him, due process contained in Section 22 Sub-sections 1 and 4 of the Rivers State Assembly Rule must be followed, so a duly signed petition by a member must first be presented to the House, after which the speaker transfers to the Committee on Petition and Public complain.
Men of the Police, State Security Service (SSS) operatives and Civil Defence Corps, who responded to the protest, barricaded the main gate of the secretariat main gate, thereby preventing anyone from entering.
The youths then made and about-face, heading for the House of Assembly complex at Moscow Road and forcefully entering the already-sealed-off premises. However, the Assembly was not sitting, as Speaker Otelemaba Dan Amachree earlier raised fears of a plan by five members of the House to violently disrupt the sitting.
Amachree claimed that 27 members loyal to Governor Chibuike Amaechi had been receiving arrest and assassination threats; he therefore demanded the redeployment of the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu saying he had lost confidence in his ability to restore order to the state.
“We condemn in very strong terms this planned war of dangerous attritions and actions to destabilise our dear state and destroy its young democracy,” he said.
“We call on the Inspector-General of Police to cause an investigation into these brazen abuses of office and the immediate redeployment of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, out of Rivers State as we no longer have confidence in his ability to carry out his constitutional duties legally.”
Similarly, Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari raised fears of a planned impeachment of the governor, but promised that the statement government would effectively curtail the few trouble makers.“We are aware that people were imagining that it will be possible to attempt a Dariye treatment in Rivers State where they will take just five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly out of 33 members and attempt an impeachment of the Governor of Rivers State,” she said.
“But, this is Rivers State, this is not Plateau State and Nigerians are lot more aware now than they were at that time. This democracy must stand and the people of Rivers State will defend every vote that they have cast for Governor Chibuike Amaechi. So, there is no way it is going to happen that a very tiny insignificant minority in the Rivers State House of Assembly will be able to oust Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.”
