Jonathan’s rivers of shame
Posted by: Our Reporter in Editorial 1 day ago 8 Comments

•The dreary drama in the Rivers State House of Assembly takes away from presidential dignity


THE theatre of the absurd unfolding in Rivers State should give any patriotic and peace-loving Nigerian a sense of foreboding. With impunity in the air, the constitution in peril and official stamp from the high office of the presidency, the moral legitimacy of this republic is fast sliding downhill.
By the week and recently by the day, the conflict between Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and President Goodluck Jonathan, imbues the nation with nausea. Respect for law has swapped places with brigandage, and the average Nigerian watches as the President engages in a bestial war of proxies.

The recent development has all the trappings of déjà vu. [b]In a dawn meeting that passed as a mockery of a legislative session in the chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly, five men loyal to the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, held an impeachment proceeding to dislodge the legitimate speaker. They also had the temerity to elect one of them, Bapakaye Bipi, as the speaker.

The so-called session continued with the usurper speaker making a speech as the new face of the legislature. In the midst of this farce, Governor Amaechi with 27 other lawmakers broke through the security condoned by Mbu Joseph Mbu, the state commissioner of police. The Amaechi loyalists held the day as they delegitimised the kangaroo action, reaffirmed the legitimacy of the speaker, Otelemaba Dan Amachree, and passed the budget the governor presented.
But the triumph of Governor Amaechi turned out to be a deft political move. If he had remained in his cosy office and allowed the 27 other lawmakers alone to go to the assembly premises, it might have embroiled the state in an intractable and potentially gruesome battle of survival with ominous implications for this fragile democracy. With the ouster of the speaker, the next move would have been to dislodge the governor in a brash impeachment process.[/b]

We cannot isolate what happened this week outside a series of dramatic face-offs between the governor and the president, as well as his proxies, in the past few months. The first open show of power was the order to strand Governor Amaechi’s aircraft. The presidency failed to cloak it as a matter of technical procedure without political undertone. Findings from investigations have exposed not only the imbecilities of the aviation authorities but also revealed them as couriers of malicious orders.

We also witnessed other developments. A known brigand marched through the streets in the name of protests, and caused fellow citizens to quake with fear. This same fellow belonged to a coterie of lawless persons who loved chaos and bloodletting more than the reign of civility. These men associate with President Jonathan, and it must make any level-headed Nigerian bow in shame.


A fellow militant, Ateke Tom, reenacted that mayhem on Wednesday with sporadic shootings in Port Harcourt. This wave of events has returned the city to the pre-Amaechi era when citizens had to raise both hands in the public to demonstrate they did not bear arms. A president who planned to transform a country now takes credit for the reverse by taking a city from peace to violence against his foe who took the city from violence to peace.


The same president condones, if he encourages, a police commissioner who acts like a lord to the citizens and a toady to the presidency. Mbu watched as his men backed the gang of five as they performed one illegality after another. We cannot forget the sins of this so-called security officer who barred traditional rulers from paying a visit to the governor. The same fellow played an ignoble role in trying to restore a local government chairman that the legislature had ousted. The inspector-general of police, Mohammed Abubakar, has acted as though he does not control the police or, as it is speculated, Mbu has grown so powerful because he takes orders only from the presidency.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) election has showcased, more than any other evidence, the desperation of the president. After defying the rules of aircraft landing, the necessity for peace, he and his proxy governors defied the purity of arithmetic by making 16 superior to 19 votes. He executed that anomaly purely in bungled bid to remove Governor Amaechi as chairman of the NGF. He also inspired the factionalisation of the group such that his loyalists now formed a parallel forum.

The Jonathan we know today differs by a wide gulf from the apparently meek, shoeless sheep who marketed a humble visage to credulous Nigerians. This same president kept meek exterior when the plot to oust his home state governor, Timipre Sylva, began to seethe. He denied it serially until he burst out in a supine speech of defiant hubris. That followed his deployment of armed forces to impose a governorship candidate in his state. The nation kept silent as impunity answered impunity.

Now the same formula seems to unveil in Rivers State, and the president’s displeasure derives from a series of disagreements that ordinarily could make both sides disagree without anyone being disagreeable. The presidency has cited the row over oil wells on the border with Bayelsa State, his support of former governor Sylva, among other matters.
How that should account for the mayhem on the streets of Port Harcourt and lead to the hauling of teargas canisters into the state house will be difficult to defend.

We ought to remember that the sort of drama in the Rivers State House of Assembly tore apart the old Western Region legislature in the First Republic. The region descended into a sanguinary chapter known as we tie. Those outside the region ignored it as a local rumble until it led to a chain of events that resounded in the civil war that cost us 30 months of peace and a million lives.

It should propel us to call for sanity in Rivers State, and the president should rein in his men for transforming the state into a conclave of violence and pursuit of parochial interests not in sync with our aspirations as a people.

la_unique: Make una leave Jonathan alone

Maxymilliano: A conjectural laced article devoid of objectivity from The Nation Newspaper is no more a surprise to any discerning readers. Since it became clear that second term ambition is gettign brighter by the day, this rogue media house, owned by a rogue has been at the forefront of reeling out conjectures and speculation all in a bid to discredit the president.

In February 2010, hell was let loose at the hallowed chambers of the Edo State House of Assembly where members in the House, threw caution to the winds in a free for all fight in a bid to oust the then speaker, Zakawanu Garuba, a PDP member. His crime was that he was becoming a clog in the smooth relationship between Governor Oshiomole and the legislatures.

In March 2013, The House of Assembly in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun was thrown into pandemonium, as 4 ACN members attempted an impeachment proceeding against the speaker, Suraju Adekumbi, also from same ACN for corruption and high handedness. The proceeding degenerated into a free for all with weapons of all sort used freely. The symbol of authority of the house, the mace, was broken.



In the camp of the ACN, it was seeing as the norm as the legislatures were freely exercising the legislative right to dissent and none of the Governors of the affected States was mentioned as the likely culprit. Now, River State is having her won share of legislative right to dissent, and some rogue opposition is trying hard to paint a story that only exist in the imagination if the writer. Only f00ls take you guys serious this days.

try69: Anyone who does not see GEJ's hand in the rivers house saga is also clueless.

Maxymilliano: A conjectural laced article devoid of objectivity from The Nation Newspaper is no more a surprise to any discerning readers. Since it became clear that second term ambition is gettign brighter by the day, this rogue media house, owned by a rogue has been at the forefront of reeling out conjectures and speculation all in a bid to discredit the president.

In February 2010, hell was let loose at the hallowed chambers of the Edo State House of Assembly where members in the House, threw caution to the winds in a free for all fight in a bid to oust the then speaker, Zakawanu Garuba, a PDP member. His crime was that he was becoming a clog in the smooth relationship between Governor Oshiomole and the legislatures.

In March 2013, The House of Assembly in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun was thrown into pandemonium, as 4 ACN members attempted an impeachment proceeding against the speaker, Suraju Adekumbi, also from same ACN for corruption and high handedness. The proceeding degenerated into a free for all with weapons of all sort used freely. The symbol of authority of the house, the mace, was broken.



In the camp of the ACN, it was seeing as the norm as the legislatures were freely exercising the legislative right to dissent and none of the Governors of the affected States was mentioned as the likely culprit. Now, River State is having her won share of legislative right to dissent, and some rogue opposition is trying hard to paint a story that only exist in the imagination if the writer. Only f00ls take you guys serious this days.

Maxymilliano:
In March 2013, The House of Assembly in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun was thrown into pandemonium, as 4 ACN members attempted an impeachment proceeding against the speaker, Suraju Adekumbi, also from same ACN for corruption and high handedness. The proceeding degenerated into a free for all with weapons of all sort used freely. The symbol of authority of the house, the mace, was broken.

Ogun Assembly crisis: Will the House be the same again?
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Olayinka Olukoya reviews the crisis that erupted in the Ogun State House of Assembly recently, the intrigues and the politics. She writes:
THAT the Ogun State House of Assembly with 26-member representatives from the 20 local government areas of the state was engulfed in 24-hour “madness” is no longer news.
The fact and the question agitating the minds of political watchers in the state is whether the House which has been enjoying relative peace since inauguration in June 2011, will still be the same again.

Lawmakers in the majority, which christened itself as “Born Again 13”, opposed the decision of the Speaker, Hon. Suraj Adekumbi Ishola, suspending four members for what it described as “gross disrespect to the legislative institution”, thereby turning the hallowed chamber into pandemonium recently.

The Assembly, prior to this confusion was said to have been polarised into two. A faction was said to be loyal to the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and another to one of the national leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and former governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba.
The 7th legislature is predominantly dominated by members of the ruling party and minority members from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN).
The recent event on the floor of the Assembly, brought to mind the crisis that consumed the 6th legislature during the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

It will be recalled that the House then was divided into two groups the G-15 and the G-11. The 15 were those against the proposition of Daniel to obtain N500bn bond from the capital market while the 11 members were Daniel’s loyalists.
The activities of government at that time were paralysed as the lawmakers failed to settle their differences which culminated in countless abandoned projects through lack of funds. Daniel was unable to resolve the imbroglio which outlived his administration.

The case was not the same as the recent commotion did not last 24 hours.

Problem started during one of the plenary sitting of the Assembly, when the Speaker announced the composition of the House Tender’s Board Committee which will serve as a due process unit in the Assembly.
The constitution of the Committee became necessary based on the advice of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), following a petition written against Ishola over allegation of contract inflation.
Ishola during one of the sittings announced his deputy, Tola Banjo, as the chairman of the Tender’s Board Committee. The announcement generated a lot of hues and cries on the floor of the Assembly on the said day.
The composition of the committee members did not go down well with some of the members, who were of the opinion that Banjo, an ally of the Speaker, would probably not do the right thing.
Tension became heightened as some aggrieved members rejected the report of the Select Committee chaired by the Speaker as presented to the lawmakers.
The Speaker called for a voice vote to determine the number of members in support of the report and those against it.
It was gathered that the voices of those against the report of the Select Committee overwhelmed those in support, but the speaker demonstrated his “inexperience” by using veto power to back those in support.
At this point, a female lawmaker, Hon (Mrs) Adijat Adeleye-Oladapo, drew the attention of Ishola to Order 40 of the House Rule which stipulates that in the event that a voice vote does not reflect the true position of the voting patter, any lawmaker has the right to call for “division”, which means actual voting by number counting.
The atmosphere within the hallowed chamber became charged as some members were alleged to have stormed out without taking a bow. Ishola, apparently unsettled with the development adjourned sitting.
Prior to the sitting, there were news around the town that the lawmakers who failed to respect the legislative process, may likely face suspension.
The Speaker and some other leaders of the House were reportedly uncomfortable with the attitudes of some of the members, hence their decision to suspend them.
Those penciled down for suspension were Honourables Remmy Hazzan (Odogbolu), Job Akintan (Egbado South), Adijat Adeleye-Oladapo (Ifo 11), interestingly, the lawmakers were all old members of the Assembly.
But, the plan to suspend these lawmakers believed to be opposing the leadership of the House met brick wall, as the move turned into pandemonium.
The Speaker had called on the Majority Leader of the House to move a motion for the suspension of four lawmakers, that is, Hazzan, Job, Adeleye-Oladapo and John Obafemi. The affected lawmakers saw the action as rehearsal cum execution of an already prepared script.
Before the secondment of the motion, the mace which is the symbol of authority of the Assembly was snatched by the aggrieved lawmakers and subsequently broken. The hallowed chamber immediately turned into a theatre where actors and actresses act a script as Ishola hurriedly called for recess.
The G-13 lawmakers quickly reconvened, appointed Remmy Hazzan as the Speaker Tempore and reversed all the decisions reached earlier by the House under Ishola.
They (aggrevied) lawmakers also left no stone unturned by counter-suspending Ishola and three others, Banjo, Jolaoso and Olakunle Oluomo whom they accused of standing the House Rules on the head.
Thus,the lawmakers threw decorum into the wind as they engaged themselves in war of words.
Hazzan, while speaking shortly after his appointment as Speaker pro tempore said the crisis became necessary because of what it described as inept leadership and deliberate attempt to cover fraudulent activities of Ishola’s leadership.
Hazzan emphasised that there were rules guiding such and that was why the House attempted to set up the Tenders Board.
“Of course, because of the need for transparency, we requested that those in the Funds Management Committee should not be in the Tenders Board. But apparently because the leadership of the House has a lot to hide, they decided that it’s the same face in the FMC that should still be in the Tenders Board. Of course, majority of us objected; we requested that there should be actual voting, it was never allowed and the Speaker just pronounced that the “I”s have it and that was it. It was a fraud!”
He faulted the manner in which Adekunbi and his loyalists carried out the suspension of the four of them was alien to the Rules of the Ogun Assembly, alien to the Constitutions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and alien to human rights.
“The House of Assembly of Ogun state is a role model to all other House of Assembly in the country and nobody can come and paint represent,” he said further.
The Speaker tempore also accussed the executive of Ogun State of not being very straight at exposing the financial status of the state as regards its debt profile.
“But we know that it is in the region of N50 Billion and above, which is even higher than what they alleged that the former governor piled up. What we are saying is that we have re-modeled our financial instrument law such that before any loan is sought, you must first have to justify the need for the loan, the repayment plan and of course, the existing loan stock that you have such that we’ll look at the date when your tenure will lapse in a manner that will not pass a burdensome debt burden to the next administration.
“What we suspect is that they purportedly suspended us so that they will have the simple majority to do the amendments of that law to not reflect the simple majority so that with their haphazard haggard number, they can quickly go to the floor and said they support any loan that the executive requests”.
Reacting to allegations that the refusal of the executive to pay loans obtained by the lawmakers led to the division among them, Hazzan said it was a sheer attempt to call dog a bad name to be able to hang it.
“What I want every citizen of Ogun state to know is that this government is drawing us into high indebtedness and they have seen that the financial instrument law that we have passed will not allow them to get loan cheaply. They have taken so much already; N50 billion is already more than what the former governor took in 8 years, now within two years, they have taken more than that.”

[b]Apparently disturbed by the development, the govenor summoned an emergency meeting with all the lawmakers, to settle the differences so as not to have a repeat of what happened between the executive and the legislature during the immediate past administration.

At the end of the meeting held behind closed-door, Amosun and some major players in the Assembly tendered unreserved apology to the people of the state over what they described as their shameful conduct.
The governor described the resolution of the crisis as a worthy and befitting birthday gift to the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo,whose 26th posthumous birthday was held on March 6.

“I want to apologise on behalf of the House of Assembly, the good people of Ogun and to all lovers of democracy. This is Ogun State, the home of Awolowo, Obasanjo, Soyinka and other giants who have labored selflessly to make us what we are.
On his part Hazzan said: “We have offended the entire citizenry of Ogun State, but, sometimes you cannot completely rule out such when there are issues and it is going beyond what temper can handle.

“But of course, we have risen far above that; thank God, it is one big happy family. We will proceed from here to the Chamber and it is going to be business as usual in the way it is meant to be done in a legislature due process with our rules, with the constitution, with our extant laws and with acceptable convention”.
“Everything that transpired before now, we are rising above it. The House is one.”
The Speaker while also speaking at the end of the peace parley, said the leadership of the House had put the ugly incident behind them.

“Sincerely, we want to use this medium to apologise to all good people of Ogun State for what transpired at the hallow chamber yesterday. “Hon. Remmy Hassan has spoken well, we have met, we are one big happy family, it was quite unfortunate just as he has rightly said, we have actually risen above that and by the special grace of God you will be seeing us doing our legislative responsibility in accordance with the extant law. You will see us discharging our responsibility in a normal way by appreciating ourselves, giving ourselves due recognition as members and true representatives of Ogun State.”[/b]

Gbawe:
Please do not go around repeating that lie that 4 lawmakers attempted to impeach the spekar in Ogun. That is dishonest revisionism. Not even to defend your messiah. The speaker moved to suspend 4 members and their caucus (G-13) rose to defend them so please move your cheap lies elsewhere.

Nairalanders can judge the Ogun debacle themselves to see it is nothing like what took place in River even as you attempt to draw similarities and even lied doing so. 5 legislators convening a secret impeachment session that excluded over 20 other pertinent members cannot, unless by an unreasonable and extremely biased person, be compared to a procedural disagreement, stemming from disregard for a voice vote all legislators in situ took part in.

4 lawmakers did not convene a middle-of-the-night secret session with a security cordon outside to carry out the impeachment of the Speaker and you are being facetiously dishonest speaking as if legislative rancour, with all members in situ, is not seen throughout the world and very different to the rarely seen coup-style antics of the 5 legislators in Rivers. Note also the conduct of the State Governor. We can host our separate affiliations and bias while still remaining committed to facts, logic and contextual honesty.

Gbawe:
Anyway, the Ogun debacle ended within 24 hours and National legislators in the upper or lower house did not have to assume legislative control in the State. We will see where the Rivers imbroglio will end since people like you, driven by emotion and clannish support for others, love to play comparison with everything, including very serious issue warranting the intervention of our Lower National legislative house, instead of just deferring to facts in the best interest of your Nation.

Let us see if the Rivers lawmakers will, like their Ogun counterparts, be "One big happy family" after this episode. We shall see if we have seen the last of serious infractions in Rivers State with a President and his wife determined to remove Amaechi.

Gbawe: Future events almost always 100%, discredit you fans of GEJ in relation to the distracting arguments you deliver and I am always happy to wait and see what will transpire in future and the new goalpost you guys will replace the old one with.

Maxymilliano:

What are you yapping about now? Is it that there was no impeachment move against the speaker by 4 members of the Ogun House of Assembly or what?

Ok, to help you here, there was an underground move to impeach the speaker, Suraj Adekumbi, there was groundswell of opinion among the lawmakers against his perceived closeness to the executive. The speaker got wind of the move and that was what brought about the suspension of the 4 members. It was a political move to save his job and reduce the opposing group to an ineffectual number to form a quorum or initiate an impeachment.

No gainsaying that there was a fracas or there was no impeachment because even from the news you quoted, Remmy Hassan was referred to as Speaker pro Tempore.



The Ogun debacle was able to be resolved within 24 hours because there was no unnecessary meddlesome from the opposition parties and the issue(s) was treated simply as a family affair. But in the case of Rivers, opposition parties trying to capitalize on the impasse were busy dishing out half-truth and sometimes outright lies on what was clearly a PDP affairs pretending to love the governor more than his party all in a bid to enjoy public sympathy.

Solution to the imbrolio will appear on the horizon if the opposition will mind their business and leave Amaechi to fight his battle, but heating up the polity with unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations just to paint the President in bad light will only complicate issues further.

The two governors of the affected States I mentioned previously were never blamed for the complete break down of law and order in their respective house of assembly but everyone knows it is the same 'voice of jacob, hands of esau'.



Nothing much will transpire in future and no goalpost will be shifted bro, Amaeachi is already aware of what'll become of him after his tenure. He is only trying to fight dirty but redemption await him once he's ready to tow the party line. Party supremacy should be paramount, and that's the lesson he's about to learn the hard way.

19 Ogun lawmakers threaten Speaker

on November 09, 2012 / in News 1:09 am / Comments


BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA—Strong indication emerged yesterday that 19 out of 26 members of Ogun State House of Assembly have compiled impeachable offences of the Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi.

Vanguard reliably gathered that, 19 lawmakers were spoiling for war against the Speaker accused of highhandedness, inept- itude and autocracy, as well as failure to recognize the House Committee on Rules and Proceedings.

A member of the assembly who craved anonymity told Vanguard, the Speaker has offended some lawmakers, who according to him, formed a quorum to implement his impeachement motion anytime when it would be raised.

The source said that the Speaker was ‘excessively flirting’ with the executive and has made the legislature a rubber stamp, adding that, the Speaker‘s action was as a result of his inexperience.

Meantime, the Speaker in a bid to stop his impeachment, has reportedly begun a house-to-house lobby of the 19 lawmakers with a view to persuading them to sheathe their swords and attend the plenary session to screen the commissioner–nominees sent by the state Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

nuclearboy: With the federal house of reps now handling the state's legislative functions, it seems Amaechi has again risen above attempts to push him out!

I wonder how Bipi and whoever beat the drums to his dance now feel, realising that except the FHR rescinds its decision, Amaechi is untouchable until 2015!

Shame on whoever the drummers are

la_unique: Make una leave Jonathan alone

try69: Anyone who does not see GEJ's hand in the rivers house saga is also clueless.

ujchief: GEJ should have known better. The more he fights Amaechi, the more Amaechi garners more supporters and sympathizers. But his wife, as I suspected, wouldn't know when best to throw in the towel. She'll keep fighting until she leads her husband to self_destruction.

Olaolufred:

Clueless LikE Jonathan odechukwu?
Is that what you mean?