Tag: GDI

The government of Rivers State yesterday accused members of the Grassroot Development Initiative (GDI), founded by Minister of Education Nyesom Wike of masterminding the bombings in some parts of the state since last December.

Commissioner for Information and Technology Mrs. Ibim Seminitari made the allegation while addressing reporters in Port Harcourt, on the Sunday night explosion at the Ahoada High Court and the discovery of bombs at the Etche High Courts yesterday.

Explosive suspected to be bomb early yesterday morning rocked part of the premises of Ahoada High court , in Ahoada East Local Government Area(LGA), destroying the building housing the secretariat of the state branch of the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA).

Ahoada High Court is being presided over by Justice Charles Wali, who last December issued an order of injunction to the self-acclaimed Speaker of the House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, to stop parading himself as speaker.

The matter was to be heard yesterday.

The event reportedly took place about 2am.

Also yesterday morning, fire ignited by unknown persons reportedly burnt files at the State High Court in Etche Local Government Area.

The Police spokesman Ahmad K. Mohammad confirmed the incidents, which he said were being investigated.

Mrs. Seminitari said the bombing of the Ahoada court premises and destruction of case files at Okehi were carried out by GDI members to destroy records of the matters involving Bipi, to stall proceedings of the matters before the courts.

Bipi could not be reached for comments. His media Assistant Fred Ofem could also not be reached.

According to Seminitari, there were f three bombs planted on the court premises. The one at the NBA secretariat exploded. The other two did not. They were later removed by the Anti-Bomb Squad.

The commissioner, who was accompanied to the conference by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Worgu Boms, decried the attitude of the police, saying they failed in command led by Mbu, their duty of protecting lifes and property.

She described Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu as “unprofessional”, “a politician”, who is not doing anything to protect residents.

“We have confidence on the Nigerian Police, but we do not have confidence in the Police in Rivers State as headed by Mbu. We have undoubted confidence that the police are professionals, but Mbu is an unprofessional politician and is not protecting the people,” the commissioner said.

Mrs. Seminitari said: “Early this morning we all woke up to stories of bomb in two places – the High Court at Ahoada and the court at Okehi in Etche Local Government Area.

“We have further established in the two places as follows: in the case of Ahoada about 2:am, an explosion was heard around the court premises confirmed it was bomb, while those who live farther away thought it was gun shots.

“There was supposed to have been a court case involving Hon. Evans this (yesterday) morning, and when the lawyers got to court this (yesterday) morning, they found that the premises where the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), office is located had been burnt. Where they were there, they discovered that there were still unexploded devices that were there. The Police Anti-Bomb squad arrived at the place (scene) and confirmed that the explosives were bomb.

“The lawyers were still around when these things were happening, between 10 and 11 am, the Police Anti-Bomb squad were still around taking stock of what has happened.

“At Okehi, it wasn’t an explosion. The Registrar of the court at Okehi confirmed that files were gathered together and set ablaze.

“We are unable to establish by who, but we can establish that they were arson. We cannot say what their intention was at this point because we do not have that as at now, but it could be possible that there was an attempt at governance.

“Knowing things that have happened at Okehi in respect of the political cases going on, as a government we are mindful that this may not be totally unrelated to matters affecting the Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA).

The state government’s image maker explained why the government thinks it was Bipi and Wike’s GDI members/supporters that carried out the acts.

“The reasons we say that is because again of the things that have happened in both Etche and Omuma, when GDI attempted to do their launching they broke into the secretariat and there was violence, and because we have seen these spate of violence by GDI member we are certain that this violence that are occurring have the signature of members of the GDI and the PDPas currently known.

“We will like the security agencies to take these matters seriously because it concerns the lives of Rivers people.

“This is not the first explosion as you (the media) are aware of in the recent time. You are aware that there was a mild one at the office of the Deputy Governor. We are still awaiting the security agencies’ report on that matter

“Your also aware of series of explosion going on around the Abonnema Wharf area of Mile One last December. We are also waiting for the reports from the security agencies.

“Since these occurred, we have been silent as a government to let the security agencies take the lead. They have failed to take the lead and also failed to tell Rivers people what all of these are about.

“As people who have the responsibility of protecting lives and property, Rivers State government frowns at this, and we are calling on the security agency(Police), to please keep politics out of the way , protect the lives and property of the people.”

Boms urged Mbu to protect people’s lives and property.

A socio-political organisation, the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), which has the Supervising Minister for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, as the grand patron and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State chapter, have said the court order on the Speaker of the House of Assembly will cause anarchy.

The GDI yesterday at a news conference in Port Harcourt by its President-General, Bright Amewhule with the group’s Secretary-General, Samuel Nwanosike, declared that Evans Bipi, who represents Ogu/Bolo, remained the “authentic” Speaker of the House of Assembly.

The socio-political organisation alleged that the Monday’s order by Justice C. N. Wali of the Rivers High Court, Ahoada, restraining Bipi from parading himself as speaker, was got through fraudulent means and would not stand.

GDI said: “We are not surprised that the purported order came from Hon. Justice Wali, who was recently appointed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi, because he who pays the piper calls the tune.

“It remains doubtful that a High Court judge will make such an anarchical order. The good people of Rivers State are desirous of knowing which Chief Judge assigned the said ex-parte motion to Hon. Justice Wali. It is public knowledge that the office of the CJ of Rivers State has remained vacant to date.”

 

The socio-political organisation also expressed optimism that Rivers would continue to be a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state, while accusing the leaders of the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) of mischief making.

The Rivers chapter of the PDP, through the Special Adviser to the Chairman on Media, Jerry Needam, also described Wali’s order as a gimmick and the ruling premeditated.

PDP said: “We believe that due legal process was not followed in the determination of the matter, as a case that was instituted at the Ahoada High Court Registry on December 13, would on December 16 be discharged in favour of the claimants.

“We will drag Justice Wali to the National Judicial Council’s (NJC’s) Disciplinary Committee on reckless interim orders.”

The PDP also called on its supporters to always strive to remain calm, while condemning Wali’s propensity of giving orders in favour of Amaechi, without recourse to the rule of law and due process.