The Show Of Shame In Rivers Assembly

The sitting of Nigeria’s Rivers State House of Assembly was disrupted Tuesday when hoodlums led by four renegade members of the State House of Assembly attacked the principal officers of the house, with an assortment of weapons. The four members invaded the house in their attempt to impeach the Speaker Otelemaba Amachree who has the support of 27 lawmakers and the state Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

The show of shame came on the heels of the protracted political crisis in the state. Ironically, the war is being fought by gladiators within the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Hell was let loose when the house, which adjourned sine die for some weeks in the wake of the crisis between Governor Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan’s pointsmen in the state,  was invaded after it  re-opened  at about 9.45 a.m. Proceedings had barely started when some members, said to belong to the G5 minority group, arrived with some hoodlums and started beating up the Majority Leader of the House, Chidi Lloyd with sticks, microphone and camera stands and any object that could serve as cudgels.

The Speaker of the House,  Amachree was also attacked and the mace broken. Reports had it that the sitting had begun when Evans Bapakaye Bipi, representing Ogu/Bolo Constituency, came into the House with thugs and started raining blows on the Majority Leader of the House. Bipi was later joined by another lawmaker, Michael Ogochukwu Chinda from Obio/Akpor 2 Constituency during the free for all in which all manner of weapons were allegedly used.

Curiously, the police who ought to have protected the lawmakers from being assaulted looked the other way when the mayhem was going on. Perhaps the police were acting a script, because since the crisis started, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu, and his men have been accused of taking sides with the traducers of Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

There are 33 members of the Assembly, with those allied with the incumbent Governor  Amaechi said to be 28, with the Jonathan/Nyesom Wike supporters having five. Within the brief moment that some pro-Amaechi lawmakers ran for their dear lives because of the overwhelming presence of thugs, Victor Ihunwo, an anti-Amaechi lawmaker, representing Port Harcourt Constituency 2, stepped into the Speaker’s seat to ‘conduct proceedings’. A renegade lawmaker, Martins Amaehule moved the “motion” for the “impeachment” of the Speaker who was rushed out after the physical assault, and Kelechi Worgu an anti-Amaechi lawmaker representing Omuma Constituency “supported” the motion and thereafter announced Bipi as the new “Speaker.”

The Governor who was alerted about the fracas and the breakdown of law and order at the Assembly, arrived and normalcy was restored. After calm was restored, the house was re-convened with the Speaker, Amachree presiding with 22 lawmakers present.

What happened in Rivers State is a sad re-enactment of a similar incident that took place on 5 March this year when four members of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Remmy Hazzan, Motunrayo Adijat Oladapo-Adeleye, Job Akintan and John Obafemi, were suspended for allegedly attempting to bring the House into disrepute. After close to a decade and half of uninterrupted democratic governance, what Nigerian politicians can offer the world is a disgraceful conduct by dishonourable men who call themselves lawmakers. Nigeria is doomed if these are the characters making laws for other citizens.

The despicable manner some politicians conduct themselves leaves much to be desired. Besides, no good will be served our democracy if some lawmakers decide to pursue their parochial interest without minding if they upset the apple cart. What the renegade lawmakers in Rivers State House of Assembly have done is anti-thetical to the tenets of democracy.

Posterity will not forgive politicians who try to undermine democracy just to achieve their narrow selfish interest. We implore them to desist from such path before the backlash destroys them.