Soldiers Take Over Rivers State Assembly

A detachment of soldiers has taken over the Rivers House of Assembly following the fracas that erupted there on Tuesday and continued today. The soldiers took over when two opposing youth groups numbering over 2,000, some pro-Governor Chibuike Amaechi, some against, attempted to storm the Assembly this morning.

They had disparate missions: to either prevent the five renegade lawmakers from sitting or to aid them. There was a clash between the youths and one was reportedly shot. No one knows who actually fired the shot.

The pro-Amaechi group, which is under the auspices of Ikwerre Youth Movement, IYM, was this morning led by Tony Okocha, the Chief of Staff, while the other group of youths under the aegis of Grassroots Democratic Initiative, GDI, is loyal to Nyesom Wike, the Minister of State for Education.

The police had earlier cordoned off Moscow Road leading to the Assembly complex, Bank Road adjacent the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Port Harcourt branch, and the state secretariat.

Speaking on the crisis, Mrs Ibim Semenetari, Commissioner for Information, confirmed that there was mass protest this morning, adding that there is an attempt to cause mayhem in the state. She also said that the Governor has been having consultations with security agencies to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order.

An ethnic bent is now being read into the crisis as Councillors of Asari Toru Local Government area the constituency of the Speaker of the House, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, have vowed that they will resist any attempt for another ethnic group, (referring to Evans Babakaya Bipialaka from Okrika) to usurp their slot (Kalabari).

Bipialaka told some journalists that after he was ‘elected’ yesterday he wanted to commence sitting today but found that security personnel had cordoned off the Assembly complex.

“We will come back tomorrow to commence sitting,” he vowed.

One of the five lawmakers, Mr Kelechi Worgu, representing Omuma Constituency, vowed in  a telephone chat with a local radio station in Port Harcourt this morning that “the battle has just started. Any how we must sit.”

At the time of the report, the opposing youth groups were milling around government gate inching to enter despite the heavy presence of the police.

Some youths actually entered the Government House at exactly 11.50 a.m. and there was shooting of tear gas canisters by Government House policemen to disperse them.  There was confusion at Government House at the time of this report.