The road to the take-over of legislative duties of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the National Assembly on July 25 can be traced to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) crisis and its ripple effect in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).The National Assembly resolution to take over legislative activities of the State House of Assembly was pursuant to Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constituent (as amended) pending the resolution of the crisis and restoration of peace in Rivers State. Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi rode against the tide within his party, the PDP and among his colleagues, for a second term as NGF chairman. Before then, he was accused of nursing an ambition to vie for the Vice President position with Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido as president in 2015.
Strident denials that such ambition did not exist did nothing to sway hawks in the presidency who went all out to stop Amaechi from contesting the NGF election. It was perceived, rightly or wrongly, that he could use the NGF platform to sell his candidacy across the country.
That was the start of series of intense politicking in which Amaechi was asked to drop his NGF second term ambition. He defied the party and went ahead to win the poll, beating the candidate backed by not only a section of the party, but also perceived to be the candidate of the presidency, that is, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau state.
A few weeks before the NGF election, the Senate PDP caucus mandated a special committee led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to meet with all the warring parties with a view to getting a political solution to the crisis raging between governors in the NGF on the one hand and some PDP governors on the other hand after Amaechi had been suspended from the party.
Armed with that mandate, the Ekweremadu Committee headed for Port Harcourt where they met with Amaechi and another governor from the South south. All the trouble-shooting efforts of the Ekweremadu Committee failed. A source on the committee recounted how the senior lawmakers met with two of the principal actors in the crisis ravaging the NGF and impressed it on them to back-pedal and allow for a “political solution” to the matter.
“Rather than give room for, at least, a political solution, a governor, who is the champion of a faction of the NGF, told the committee point-blank that rather than call for reconciliation, they are ready to take their chances and that the election for a new NGF chairman must take place.
“They told us point-blank that they have already assured the president that they have the needed majority. Besides, they contended that the emergence of the NGF chairman has never been by election and so, having secured more than the required numbers for a consensus candidate, they were not ready to entertain any reconciliation meeting with Amaechi.”
The Ekweremadu committee reportedly left Port Harcourt empty-handed. On getting back to Abuja, the committee expectedly briefed Senate President David Mark where it was further resolved that the Senate President should use his good offices and cordial relationship with Aso Rock and within the party to broker truce and “allow the party machinery to resolve the matter amicably.”
The Senate President did as his colleagues asked and reportedly met with Aso Rock and the leadership of the PDP. To the dismay of the Senate PDP caucus, Mark was soundly rebuffed by the party apparatchiks.
With a heated polity, on another flank, the state House of Assembly, which was already in turmoil with five members already suspended, the crisis in the state legislature escalated to the point where the house was unable to perform its constitutional responsibility. The assembly had to adjourn sine die.
The following month, the political crisis in the state escalated, prompting the House of Representatives to wade in. To stem the drift into anarchy in the state assembly, the House resolved to take over its legislative duties because there were two established camps, each laying claim to legitimacy, even though the other faction only had five members and did not have the required quorum to take over the house.
On July 10, when the House took over the legislative duties of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Senate was locked in a tension-soaked, finger-pointing session over whether the red chamber should adopt a similar decision.
By this time, reports reached the Senate at plenary, that mayhem had erupted in the Rivers assembly after five members had reportedly tried to impeach the Speaker and a free-for-all fight had ensued, with the Police reportedly openly taking sides.
Reason prevailed after Senator Magnus Abe, from Rivers State moved a motion, vide Order 43 of the Senate Standing Rules (As amended), where he drew the attention of the chamber to the political imbroglio unfolding in his home state.
Abe, who chairs the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), then recounted the events of Tuesday, July 9 to his colleagues and noted that for “63 days, the Rivers State House of Assembly has not been able to sit. This week, the Assembly got notice from the governor that he wanted to bring an alteration to the state budget which prompted the Assembly to write the Commissioner of Police for protection…”
Rather than offer protection, “mayhem ensued,” said Abe, who also wondered how law and order could break down when the “Assembly is directly opposite the State Police Command on Moscow Road. This incident happened right under the nose of the Police who were believed to be there to protect the Speaker and members of the House of Assembly.”
He continued: “This incident, as disturbing as it is, has ramifications beyond the Assembly. It can lead to breakdown of law and order.” Senator Abe further informed the chamber that information reaching him indicated that there was “shooting of tear-gas into the Rivers Government House.”
Done with his explanations, a visibly angry Senate President David Mark slammed the treatment meted out to Rivers State legislators and declared that the nation’s highest legislative organ finds the situation “totally unacceptable…”
Said Mark: “Clearly, what is happening in River State is an embarrassment to legislators across the length and breadth of this country and it is in the interest of Assemblies not to do anything that will portray legislators as irresponsible because that is not what we are.
“Clearly also, what is happening is totally unacceptable and it must be condemned in its strongest possible term in its entirety; irrespective of who is directly involved or who is behind it.
“It is not a situation that we expect and we would not want it to continue beyond this point where it has reached. Democracy involves dialogue; give and take and at every point, people must learn to dialogue to discuss and bring issues to the table and not to fight over issues to the level where it has reached. Because of the urgency, I also believe that this Senate must take urgent steps to protect democracy and to protect this country and to ensure that democracy continues to grow and improve in the country.
“Senator Abe has raised a very serious issue and it is proper that we take steps to ensure that the Rivers State House of Assembly is restored to normalcy so that they can continue their activities in terms of legislation.
“In order for us get the facts so that we don’t operate by the things that we see and hear from the media, it is appropriate to send our committee to investigate for us.
“I appeal to all the parties involved to sheath their swords until we are able to get a feedback from our committee and we are able to get a resolution. Let me state here in very clear terms that this Senate will do everything possible; even if it means sacrificing our blood to uphold the Constitution of this country.”
Thereafter, the Senate President beckoned on Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) to read the resolutions taken at the closed session.
Ndoma-Egba then read out five resolutions. They are: (i) The Senate condemns the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly which portends danger for democracy; (ii) The States and Local Government Committee is hereby mandated to investigate and report back in one week; (iii) All parties in the dispute must maintain the statusquo and the peace (iv) The Senate will, at all times, uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and (v) urge the Inspector General of Police to take immediate steps to address the issue of the broken relationship between the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and the Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu.”
It was not so easy as the chamber was polarized in two camps, with one, led by Senator Babajide Omoworare calling for the removal of Mbu and the other, led by ranking Senators who opined that Mbu’s removal from Rivers State cannot be ordered from the chamber.
A call for division, the first in the Seventh Senate, was demanded by Omoworare. Reason prevailed at the end of the day and the earlier house resolution, asking the IGP to address the relationship between Mbu and the state governor stood.
That was the scenario in Rivers State which the Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya-led Committee on States and Local Government walked into to conduct its own investigation of the fracas.
A week after, in keeping with its mandate, Gaya presented the committee report but by this time, there were accusations and counter-accusations of huge sums of money exchanging hands in order for one side of the warring parties to get favorable mention in the Senate report. It was even alleged by some online news portals that the Gaya committee was induced to the tune of $500,000 by the state government to write a favourable report of its investigations.
At the Senate, Gaya presented a 150 page report, 140 verbatim report and 19 video CDs. In his presentation at plenary, he noted that the committee observed that the July 9th crisis in Rivers State House of Assembly was as a result of deep rooted political discontent in the state. It is instructive to note that the Gaya report was exhaustively debated behind closed doors, due, perhaps, to the sensitive nature of the investigation.
The committee noted in one of its findings, on Page 63-64 of its report that, “the crisis at the Rivers State House of Assembly on July 9 was the expression of deep-rooted political crisis occasioned by the alleged high-handedness of Amaechi and the perceived undue interference with the political and security structure of the state by the president, his wife and the national hierarchy of the PDP.
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