Rivers crisis festers

The political crisis rocking Rivers State heightened yesterday with the police firing teargas to disperse youths who gathered at the premises of the State House of Assembly in Port Harcourt where violence broke among lawmakers on Tuesday.The state government alleged that the police also fired teargas into the Government House, trying to disperse supporters of […]

The political crisis rocking Rivers State heightened yesterday with the police firing teargas to disperse youths who gathered at the premises of the State House of Assembly in Port Harcourt where violence broke among lawmakers on Tuesday.
The state government alleged that the police also fired teargas into the Government House, trying to disperse supporters of Governor Rotimi Amaechi who came from parts of the state to show solidarity, but police authorities denied this.
Later yesterday, military personnel guarding the Government House were withdrawn, causing concern in government circles as to what this may mean for the safety of the governor.
The trouble in Port Harcourt began on Tuesday in the State House of Assembly where five lawmakers attempted to impeach the speaker but were resisted by the 22 other members. In the ensuing fracas, some lawmakers including the speaker were injured.
In Abuja yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution mandating the National Assembly to take over the legislative responsibilities of the Rivers State Assembly following Tuesday’s violence.
For their part, the Senate and the Police authorities decided to send separate investigative teams to Port Harcourt to find out what really caused the crisis and suggest ways of solving it.
Signs that the trouble which began Tuesday was set to continue yesterday emerged when rival thugs from the Amaechi camp and from the camp of the five lawmakers believed to be supported by the Presidency stormed the entrance of the assembly early in the morning. They met a heavy presence of security personnel.
The anti-Amechi thugs gathered on Moscow Road where the assembly complex is located as early as 4am to protest Tuesday’s beating of Mr. Chinda who is reported to be in a critical condition.
But another set of thugs supporting the governor also appeared, and soon there was pandemonium when the two sides started jeering and throwing stones at each other.
This forced the police to fire in the air and shoot teargas.
Some of the thugs at both ends of Moscow Road were later dispersed by the police, forcing them to move towards Azikiwe Road, near the Government House.
Information Commissioner Ibim Semenitari said the police fired teargas canisters into the Government House complex as the state executive council was about to meet.
Police authorities had told journalists that they had to fire teargas to disperse protesters because the ban on public procession was still on in the state.
But Mrs. Semenitari said there were no protesters at the Government House and that “there was absolutely no need for the police to stand in front of the Government House gate and fire canisters into the complex. This is unfair. This is unacceptable,” she said, quoted by Premium Times.
Mrs. Semenitari explained that some local government chairmen and councillors from around the state were travelling in buses to pay solidarity visit to the governor when the police suddenly moved in and started firing the canisters.
“They were not even marching on the streets so you can’t say they were protesting,” she said. “The teargas canisters were shot directly into the Government House. It’s really sad.”
But the state police command said its personnel did not fire tear gas at the Government House. Spokeswoman for the command, DSP Angela Agabe, said: “No, it’s not true. Police personnel deployed to stop protesting youths did not fire tear gas into the Government House. Tear gas was used to disperse youths who attempted to enter the state House of Assembly and others who also took over some streets.”
Agabe said normalcy had been restored to the state legislature while the protesting youths had been successfully dispersed.
She said the ban on public procession in the state was still in force. “The commissioner of police warned and also remind the general public that the ban on public procession is still on and that no matter highly placed a person or group are, any person who violates the law, will be prosecuted,” she added.
Later last night, the Rivers Information Commissioner Semenitari confirmed to Daily Trust in a text message that the military personnel who had been stationed at the Government House were withdrawn yesterday. She did not say why this was done.