The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Joseph Mbu

  • Mbu, 18 others now DIGs

    The Police Service Commission has approved the promotion of the controversial Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu to the rank of Deputy Inspector – General of Police (DIG).

    18 other commissioners of police were promoted.

    The newly promoted officers are – Ambrose O. Aisibor, Adebayo Ajileye, Umaru Abubakar Manko, Joel Kayode Theophilus, Wilfred Eje Obute, Felix Osita Uyanna, A. J. Abakasanga and Jubril Olawale Adeniji.

    Others are – Ibrahim M. Maishanu, Godfrey E. Okeke, Chintua Amajor-Onu, Lawal Tanko, Usman Akila Gwarry, Kalafite Helen Adeyemi, Yahaya Garba Ardo, Irimiya F. Yerima, Olufemi A. Adenaike and Patrick Dey Dokumor.

    A statement issued on Wednesday by the Assistant Director, Public Relations of the PSC, Mr. Ferdinand Ekpe, said the promotions became necessary to fill the vacancies created by the recent retirements/promotions in the Force.

    Ekpe added that the exercise was also geared towards re-invigorating and repositioning the various zonal and other commands for the current security challenges.

    All the promotions take immediate effect.

  • Between Victor Ogene and Joseph Mbu

    When President Goodluck Jonathan sarcastically referred to some of his critics as ‘little men’; many condemned the diatribe; more so as you can not walk in the rain and complain of getting soaked. But what can one make of ‘little public officials’ who flagrantly abuse their public power; and because of temporal privileges, act with impunity in the name of the institution, they represent. In the past week, deputy House of Representative spokesman, Victor Ogene, and the notorious Commissioner of Police, Rivers state, Mbu Joseph Mbu, took the gold medal in this respect. There were other culprits.

    For the umpteenth time, Joseph Mbu was again in the news for the wrong reason. The police under his command was accused of shooting rubber bullets at Senator Magnus Abe and other unarmed members of the so called Save Rivers Movement, a group championing the political interests of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, of Rivers state. Ostensibly, the group was formed as a counterpoise to another nebulous association of political jobbers, called, the Grassroots Development Initiative, beholden to Barrister Nyesom Wike, the Minister of state for Education, who is boastful that he has enormous powers in the politics of the state.

    Personally, I have sympathy for the professional challenges facing Mr. Mbu, as the state Police Commissioner; considering that it is extremely difficult to serve two politically wayward masters at the same time. Nay, in the high octane political drama, playing out in Rivers state, Governor Rotimi Amaechi is involved in a life threatening political battle with President Jonathan; and Mr. Mbu is no more than a pawn in the chess game. Interestingly, under our jejune federal constitution, President Jonathan through the Inspector General of Police, instead of Public Law and Order , is the de jure and de facto boss of the Commissioner of Police; but in the eyes of ordinary Nigerians, Governor Amaechi, is erroneously considered the boss of the Commissioner. So the poor fellow is drawn between the un-protective laws of the country, that will not aide him, in a battle with the authorities, and the whims and caprices of desperate politicians and their dangerous compatriots.

    But this challenge will not justify his increasing decent into anarchical language; even when he is intermittently drawn into a farcical show-down by those opposed to his boss. In pursuit of professional advancement, Commissioner Mbu must appreciate that there is life beyound the prospects of achieving an ultimate career goal. Mr. Mbu’s lowest moment last week, was his choice of words over the alleged shooting incidence involving Senator Magnis Abe. He did not speak as a mature law officer. Instead, he boasted as if he is the law of the state. Such arrogance shows that the commissioner may have lost his cool, in the tug-of-war, with the political interests mobilized against him, in Rivers state.

    Unfortunately for him, in the end-game now on, in Rivers state, should anything happen to any of the dramatis personae in any confrontation with the police, Mr. Mbu will be held accountable, at least in the court of public opinion. It is therefore expedient that Mr. Mbu be immediately redeployed, by the Inspector General of Police. As has been stated by the Court and many commentators on the right to peaceful assembly, the police have no right to issue any permit or disperse a peaceful assembly, for lack of permit, under a truly constitutional democracy. But that is one side of the story. The other side is that, under the Police Act, the Police have subsisting extra-ordinary powers that impugn the rights of free citizens in any modern democracy. These impurities are contained in the police power of arrest and power to prevent the commission of crime (read riotous assembly), which definitions are nebulous.

    But Victor Ogene’s tantrum against the Minister of Finance and the coordinating Minister of the Economy is even more gratuitous. According to Mr. Ogene, the Honourable Minister was grandstanding by making public, instead of treating as a secret, her answers to the so called and much advertised 50 questions on the Economy, raised by the House Committee on Finance, for the Minister to answer. Yet, Mr. Ogene purports that the committee was acting in the interest of the Representatives of Nigeria. So except for purposes of mischief, it is difficult to appreciate how the Minister can be censored on this point, when the committee was celebrating publicly, their capacity to raise 50 ‘take home questions or assignment’ for the Minister at their previous encounter.

    Even more intriguing is Mr. Ogene’s claim that ‘nobody is deceived by high sounding economic terms’ in the answers. That unnecessary diatribe gave him and those he represented away, as economic illiterates, who are intimidated by economic jargons contained in the Minister’s answers. The resort to clear treats and intimidation about the powers of the parliament over an appointed public official, further confirms that Mr. Ogene is merely pursing the misguided interest, of some of his colleagues. If truly Mr. Ogene and those pushing him are working for our common interests; then his choice of words must be circumspect.

    Regrettably, part of the challenge for our young democracy is that many of the political actors are unable to distinguish between democratic ethos and militarized languages. So when you hear Mr. Mbu or Mr. Ogene talking as if they hold the ultimate ace, based on their misguided interpretation of their constitutional responsibilities, you will understand that they are products of decades of militarised environment. Unfortunately, our courts have not yet completely weaned themselves from the effects of the years of a militarized polity; otherwise they would in clear exercise of their prerogative powers, shoot down these pretenders, each time they want to ride roughshod over our laws and the wellbeing of our democracy.

    •This article, first published on January 21, is repeated because Mbu, now redeployed to Abuja, has been in the news for the wrong reasons.

  • Joseph Mbu again!

    Joseph Mbu again!

    A lot of Nigerians only became aware of the name, Joseph Mbu when the man operated as the parallel governor of River State.  But before he got the pink slip and was forced out of Prot Harcourt, brother Mbu was a Deputy Commissioner in Anambra State, I think, at the time when the then governor, Chris Ngige was bundled into the boot of a very small car, whisked off, and was locked away for a moment or two in an audacious Igbo-made coup.  A few years later, Mbu reared his head as Police Commissioner in Oyo State.  There, he led the team that sacked the palace of one Ashipa in a most humiliating manner.  Mbu claimed that he was enforcing a court order in the Alaafin versus Ashipa faceoff.  The Ashipa lost.  To this day, the Ashipa chap has not fully recovered.

    So, no, Mbu did not turn up in River State with the kind of CV that would make any state executive overjoyed.  Shortly after he arrived Port Harcourt, and without any prompting, Mbu forcefully declared that he would not be pocketed.  That was the first signal that the man was sent to Port Harcourt to do a hatchet job.  And it didn’t take too long at all before the script unfolded, with our ubiquitous First Lady casting herself – not for the first time – in the Director’s role.  The rest is unpalatable history.

    But before Commissioner Mbu departed River State, Governor Rotimi Amaechi lost the rest of his hair.  Mbu also ensured that the House of Assembly became an arena for inelegant kerfuffle – with broken heads and broken egos thrown in for good measure.  He made sure that state legislators with distended bellies laid prostrate on a well swept road at least a couple of times.  And his final act was to set free the thugs that were used for these and other nefarious enterprise.

    So when a couple of weeks or so ago organised thugs surfaced at Unity Square in Abuja wearing t-shirts that proclaimed “Release our Girls” and then proceeded to smash up the chairs and other logistics of legitimate peaceful protesters, with plenty of police officers at hand, grinning from ear to ear, everyone looked in the direction of the Police Commissioner.  You just knew that if there was going to be unpleasantness introduced into the whole colourful, dignified, and peaceful protest in Abuja on behalf of the missing Chibok school girls, it was going to come via Joseph Mbu.

    That is what the man does.  He appears to know no convivial or positive way to carry out his duties.  For him, it’s all about malfeasance, repression and heavy-handedness.  After the all too convenient introduction of a rival protest group of hardened thugs, Mbu declared that dangerous elements were about to hijack the protest.  Then he proclaimed, “Protests on the Chibok girls are hereby banned with immediate effect.  As the FCT police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness.”  In banning the ‘bring back our girls’ heart-warming protests, he said, “People have been protesting over a month now…when you continue to do it persistently, it becomes a nuisance to the government.

    Maybe we should just tell him: Over 200 innocent school girls abducted by criminals for more than 50 days with no end in sight is more than a nuisance and is far more embarrassing to the government.  Wild-eyed male thugs intimidating mainly female peaceful protesters and smashing up their chairs and equipment while the police look on with gleeful eyes in the presence of the international media is a damn sight more embarrassing for the government.

    Naturally, the organisers of the protests headed to court and, thank heavens, saner voices prevailed and Mbu’s ill-advised ban was rescinded.  I don’t know why some people insist in portraying Nigeria as a jungle, as an uncaring space.  And I don’t know why or how Jonathan has somehow mastered the art of stealing defeat from every situation.

    The other time, when things got too tight for Joseph Mbu, after he’d realised that he had been used and was about to be dumped, he rushed off to the press and plonked down for some sophomoric and weepy salutation ads to congratulate his boss, the Inspector General of Police for being on the job for two years.  Following the reversal of his haughty ‘bring back our girls’ protest ban, and realisation that he might be sidelined again, God only knows to what Mbu might resort to starve off another possible shuffle down the road.  It won’t surprise me if the IGP comes home one day to find Royal Fathers from his place waiting for him in his sitting room with their game faces on – that is after he might have driven past two brand new, half nourished cows (advert space don’t come cheap) tied down in his front yard.

    As Police Commissioner, Mbu ought to concentrate his effort at this time to providing effective security for Abuja rather than consolidating his reputation as government ‘go to’ guy when there’s a dirty job to be done.

    In the meantime, if I were Bala Mohammed, the FCT Minister, I will start a rigorous regime of fasting and prayer, preferably on Fridays, until Mbu packs his bags and muskets and hits the road again.

     

    • Egbejumi-David writes from Lagos

     

  • Police didn’t ban protests on Chibok abduction – IGP

    The police high command on Tuesday attempted to modify the ban placed on individuals and groups protesting the April 14 abduction of the over 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram insurgents.

    The Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, had on Monday, issued an order banning protests and rallies within the capital territory.

    In a terse statement conveying the ban, Mbu stated:  “You will recall that the first peaceful protest on the “BRING BACK OUR GIRLS” (Chibok) took place on the 28th April, 2014 which I took part in the procession until when the Senate President and Speaker addressed them.

    “The protest continued and on the 22nd May, 2014, they were again addressed by over ten ministers, SGF and others. They are still unrelenting; the group has now shifted to Maitama Amusement Park. This area is very close to the residence of diplomats.

    “Again a new group, “RELEASE OUR GIRLS” suddenly emerged and started the same protest, it has degenerated to the extent that they are now selling and cooking at the Unity Fountain.

    “The trend is now posing a serious security threat to those living around and citizens who drive through. We are all aware of what happened on Monday – 01/06/2014 in Mubi, Adamawa State.

    “As the FCT Police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness. Information reaching us is that too soon dangerous elements will join the groups under the guise of protest and detonate explosive aimed at embarrassing the government.

    “Accordingly, protests on the Chibok girls are hereby banned with immediate effect. I urge all to encourage our security agencies in this war and appreciate them for the sacrifices we have made and are still making.”

    But the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, said on Tuesday that the restriction order was only advisory.

    According to him, the police under his watch has not issued any order banning peaceful assemblies and protests in any part of the country.

    The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba who addressed journalists in Abuja, on behalf of the IGP, said Mbu’s action must have been informed by the prevailing security challenges in the country.

     

  • Police ban Chibok protest in Abuja

    Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory, Joseph Mbu, has banned all protests over kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the ban was issued on Monday following series of protests, rallies and demonstrations organised by groups and individuals over the April 14 abduction of over 200 schoolgirls at Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

  • Why we need state police

    SIR:  The state of insecurity facing Nigeria calls for a round-table discussion on the essence of providing adequate proper and efficient security for all. The major priority for any government is to secure the lives and property of the populace which they govern. Unfortunately, the federal government is finding it difficult to do so. Over 2000 lives have been lost since the continuous attack by the Boko Haram sect on the Nigerian people. I shed tears continuously due to the inhuman activities of Boko Haram sect.

    The political class continues to point accusing fingers rather than working together for a common cause. They say state governors are the Chief Security Officers of their states, but in reality, governors are not in control of any security outfit. The federal government recruits, dispatch and command the entire security outfit we have in Nigeria. How then can one say governors are the chief security officers? A governor does not in any way have a say in the deployment or removal of commissioners of police or any head of a security outfit in the nation. We have had examples when a governor would give a direct order on a commissioner of police and the commissioner would disobey the order and carry out a different agenda as we saw of Rivers Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu.

    There have been a lot of anxieties that the creation of state police would give governors the power to use them as a tool to fight opponents and could also be used in the manipulation of election processes. The truth of the matter is that theory is baseless. The federal government has been controlling the police and various security outfits for decades; can we say they have used that machinery to witch-hunt their opponents? I don’t think so. How can you deploy an Edo man to let’s say Oyo State, where he has little or no knowledge of the terrain? How can he effectively fight crime? How would he know the fastest route or potential hide out of criminals?

    The best option to police ourselves is ourselves! An Osun man should be in Osun; ditto an Edo man should serve in Edo. The benefit of this outweighs the demerits; the police officers would be familiar with that terrain, speak the language, understand the culture or religious values and can easily identify potential individuals that are security threat due to their familiarisation within that community.

     

    • Folawiyo Kareem Olajoku

    Osogbo, Osun State

     

  • Much ado about APC’s directive

    Much ado about APC’s directive

    Induction is that aspect of a theory of knowledge that is used to predict, with probability, the future, based on past experiences and events. It is one of the problems in the philosophy of science or logic and scientific method which has defied logical justification, i.e, justification with logical certainty. But in the absence of logical justification philosophers have come up with what is known as pragmatic justification which states that if anything will work, induction will. It is from this highly intellectual background and profound thinking that I place the controversial directive, which I shall call pragmatic directive, of the APC to its members in the National Assembly to block all executive or, more appropriately, tactically withdraw support for executive bills of President Jonathan which, unfortunately, includes the most talked about budget ritual.

    What is known to all Nigerians and the international community is the reckless immunity going on in Rivers State as initiated, sponsored and repeatedly fuelled by the presidency and perfected by the law enforcement agencies through a certain Commissioner of Police called Joseph Mbu. Through him the people of Rivers State and Governor Rotimi Amaechi have been tortured to no end. Every meeting or rally organized by Amaechi and his supporters were always illegally and brutally disrupted by Mbu on orders from above, i.e, the presidency and a certain Nyeson Wike, the supervising Minister Education who, incidentally,  is gunning for the governorship seat in that state. On the other hand, the meetings and rallies organized by Wike was always supported by the presidency, the first lady and Mbu.

    The situation was so bad that any rally or meeting organized by Governor Amaechi was always attacked and turned into violence by Mbu and his men. Even a Senator of the Federal Republic,Magnum Abe, was shot with rubber bullet at a rally in Port Harcourt. Senator Abe is now receiving treatment in a London hospital. All entreaties by Nigerians and joint resolution of the National Assembly to the presidency to either sack or at least remove Mbu from the scene fell on death  ears probably because Mbu had not accomplished his presidential directive which was to either break Amaechi’s bone or create so much crisis in Rivers that a state of emergency would be declared to allow Wike dislodge  Amaechi and his supporters from reckoning in the politics of Rivers state.

    But thank God, the people of Rivers state and the APC stood firm in support of Amaechi. Unfortunately, the more the people of Rivers state and the APC reacted to the crisis being fuelled by Wike and the presidency, the more escalated the crisis became without any attempt by the presidency to call Mbu to order. In effect, Mbu became the chief executive of Rivers State from whom the elected governor must take orders.

    Now that the APC thought that enough was enough, they have seized the window of opportunity available to them to fight back in a democratic manner rather than resort to violence which was what the presidency wanted to enable them to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State. That window of opportunity presented itself with the president’s bills that would go to the National Assembly for consideration. This window of opportunity provided the clincher. Having been dragged to the wall and without anyway to escape, the APC went for the jugular – a pragmatic consideration and approach which states that if anything will work, a threat of tactical withdrawal from consideration of the president’s bills will under the pressing circumstances. Within 48 hours of the threat, Nigerians witnessed what have never been witnessed before in Rivers story of crisis.

    For the first time in over a year, Amaechi successfully held a rally in which the Inspector General of Police gave Amaechi police protection at the Bori rally, unlike a few weeks before when an order from above prevented similar outing in Port Harcourt. That peaceful rally showed that, if anything at all, it is the police intervention that always caused violence in any of Amaechi’s organized rallies in Rivers State. Wonders will never end, we may say, but this wonder came about by APC’s threat of blocking the president’s bills unless the impunity in Rivers state was stopped, and it was stopped to the admiration of the APC that used the threat to effectively checkmate the excesses of the presidency in Rivers State. It was a tit for tat affair that paid off effectively.

    I have read and listened to various comments from some Nigerians on this matter. I admired people like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and now Prof. Wole Soyinka who would always take their time before they commented on national issues. And when they did, it was always a bombshell. This is the trait of what Justice Yinka Ayoola described as structured thinkers. While national publicity secretaries of various parties are obliged to respond quickly to statements by opposing parties, a few of them, by training and intellectual clout are capable of responding intelligently on the spot while the responses of others are devoid of reason and logic. In the case at hand, our rash commentators ought to have thought deeply and seen the APC’s pragmatic directive as probably the only move that could checkmate the president’s reign of impunity in Rivers state. Nigerians should have known that the situation in Rivers could be replicated in many other states, which means that, apart from the problem of Boko Haram, the crisis in Rivers and many other states were likely to create a revolution similar to the Arab Springs that would truncate our democracy and send the federal government, National and State Assemblies, Governors and other politicians packing. If this happens, then, we should say that nature has taken its sweet revenge! We would then be back to square one as a result of our inaction when the country was being set on fire by the presidency, and Mbu, the president’s errand boy.

    In this case, the presidency, members of the National Assembly and politicians of all descriptions should thank the APC for introducing a pragmatic solution to a hitherto intractable problem.

    If we critically subject the APC’s directive to a quasi scientific analysis as rooted in induction and experience, we would land at the altar of pragmatism, or a pragmatic theory of action. This is to say, in effect, that in order to curb the impunity in Rivers State and effectively checkmate the excesses of the presidency thereof, if anything will work the directive to block (a conditional directive) the president’s bills will. And this is the pragmatic justification for the APC’s well conceived directive. The country will be the better for it as never again will be PDP led government and the presidency enjoy their reign of sponsored impunity and violence, indiscriminate use of EFCC to arrest political opponents, doctored sequence of election from top to bottom instead of the usual bottom to top to forestall bandwagon effect, killing of forgotten pensioners slowly but surely, absolute disregard for the rule of law, corruption and bad governance.

    Say what you like, Nigerians are now seeing true democracy at work in a two party system which was virtually non existent in our ugly and riotous past.

     

    • Prof. Makinde, FNAL, is Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State

     

     

  • Looming anarchy

    Looming anarchy

    •Responsibility for restoring order in Rivers State rests on President Jonathan

    The drama in Rivers State has turned absurd and is threatening to consume the country. In all this, the refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to give leadership is confounding. He has kept silent as the state is boiling. Already, lives have been lost, protests have gone awry and confidence is lost in the police force. Even the judiciary is not spared as two courts were nearly razed. Yet, the President seems not bothered by these developments.

    This has fuelled the speculation that President Jonathan is behind the mayhem in the state. The Grassroots Democratic Initiative, an initiative of the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, seems to be getting cover from the police. There have also been suggestions that the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, who was once engaged in a public showdown with the state governor, Rotimi Amaechi, might be behind the anti-Amaechi orchestrations in the state.

    These are serious enough suggestions. A President, as leader of the country, would have been expected to rise immediately to the occasion, distance his office from such acts that could lead to anarchy and call the head of the police force to order. Every move made so far by institutions of state to bring sanity to the state has been frustrated by the federal executive. Last July, the Senate passed a resolution to take over the legislative activities of the state as provided in the constitution. The move was frustrated by the courts. The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu ordered the chambers of the House of Assembly sealed off.

    Unless the President steps in decisively, gives effect to the resolution of the two Houses of the National Assembly that the commissioner of police should be removed and assures the people that he has no interest other than the higher interest of ensuring that the Rule of Law and peace reign in the state, the situation is likely to degenerate and the result unpredictable. At the moment, Mr. Mbu is seen by a section of the state as a participant in the crisis. The inability of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to act is equally perceived to be based on ‘order from above’. The logical consequence of this is a resort to self-help.

    The directive of the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to its members in the National Assembly to block all executive bills already presented or that may be sent to the assembly now is instructive that the general good is being threatened. The party has said, if the federal ruling party could use its control of the federal apparatus to support Wike and his men in Rivers State, the APC would do all within its power to protect the governor; one of its own.

    The reality today is that Nigeria is gradually sliding into a fractured state. The country is being set on fire in one corner – one of the 36 states – and the President, like Nero, is fiddling in Abuja. He has time to play the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) politics, fly around the world and pretend that all is well. Nigeria’s history indicates that cauldrons start small.

    We call on President Jonathan to play his role as the country’s leader and as father of the nation. It behoves him to call all the parties to order. The constitution is clear on the place and role of the governor as Chief Security Officer of his state. He should not be undermined by a commissioner of police who should take orders from him. When that happens, mayhem may result and Nigerians are the ultimate losers.

     

  • Much ado over APC’s directive to lawmakers

    Much ado over APC’s directive to lawmakers

    Since February last year, Rivers State has been on the edge. Opposition rallies have become taboo. Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Itse Sagay believes that the state’s Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, would not have been harassing opposition elements if he does not have the backing of the powers-that-be. Last Saturday’s rally by the Save Rivers Movement (SRM) held in Bori, the headquatres of Ogoniland, Rivers State was the first time in a long while that the opposition had a smooth rally. An attempt to do the rally six days earlier left many injured; and vehicles were destroyed.

    Yet, irrespective of their party leaning, Nigerians, who wish to stage a peaceful protest, must be able to do so without molestation.

    When about 13,000 teachers were supposed to receive their certificates and letters of employment at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt, they were dispersed by the police with tear gas. On other occasions, ex-militants disrupted peaceful rallies in the state. On an occasion, the police prevented the governor from accessing his house, insisting that he must pass through a particular road. Things became worst when Governor Rotimi Amaechi joined the APC. Senator Magnus Abe was shot at a rally and is still recuperating in London.

    It got so bad that Amaechi wrote the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and used other means to lodge complaints. But deaf ears were turned to his plea.

    The impunity in Rivers made the Senate last Wednesday ask the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, to appear before it to give a situation report. Both arms of the National Assembly have condemned the recurring crisis in the state.

    Sagay told The Nation yesterday: “The Federal Government is obviously sponsoring what is happening in Rivers. Mbu will not be doing what he is doing if his backers are not at the top. His directive is to frustrate the Rivers governor and his masters.”

    Angered by the ‘madness’ in Rivers, the APC instructed all its members in the National Assembly to block all executive bills, including the 2014 Appropriation Bill.

    The party said: “In view of the joint resolutions of the National Assembly on Rivers State, and other constitutional breaches by the Presidency, the APC hereby directs its members in the National Assembly to block all legislative proposals, including the 2014 budget and confirmation of all nominees to military and civilian positions to public office, until the rule of law and constitutionalism is restored in Rivers State in particular, and Nigeria in general.”

    The PDP flayed the directive, accusing the APC of being anti-people. The chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Dan Nwanyanwu, also toed the PDP line, accusing the leading opposition party of wanting to foist hardship on the people. Sagay said the APC decision is just like a balance of terror. Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday said there was nothing anti-people about the directive. Fashola cited instances where PDP members in the National Assembly have blocked some legislative proposals, such as the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    The governor said the APC lawmakers “have found as a legitimate weapon, the withdrawal of cooperation from the executive in order to bring a belligerent executive back on to the negotiation table because as they say themselves, nobody can claim ownership of Nigeria.

    “Therefore, where appeals and letters fail, the legitimate tool is the use of the power of cooperation or the withdrawal of cooperation.

    He explained that in a democratic process “where the party in power in majority has full legislative majority, this has been a weapon that the parliament has employed”.

    Fashola said the PIB Bill had been stalled in the National Assembly for over three years as well as the refusal to approve appropriation for the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) saying that no voices were raised in those situations.

    “Have you asked yourselves why? That was an example of withdrawal of cooperation. The same party in the majority returned the budget and you know how the budget finally came back to the National Assembly, that was an example of withdrawal of legislative cooperation. The same party with the majority last year said it was not going to approve appropriation for the Security and Exchange Commission, a constitutional empowered and created body because they were disagreeable with its leadership.”

    Analysts believe that the fruit of APC’s threat is already being felt. They say if not for the decision of the party, the Bori rally would have been disrupted by either the police or political thugs. They faulted the anti-people label being hanged on the party, citing instances where opposition in advanced democracies have blocked legislative proposals.

    The Republicans in the U.S. blocked some moves of President Barack Obama. The Obamacare is one. The Republicans went to great extent to stop, arguing that it is all part of democracy. The Republicans saw in Obama’s Affordable Care Act the single most unifying issue. Rank-and-file Republicans, especially those who are aligned with the Tea Party movement, despised the new health-care law. They devised strategies to delay, defund or in some other way disrupt the imminent implementation of the legislation.

    In Canada’s parliamentary system, the basic function of the opposition is to oppose the government on a day-to-day basis. In this role, the opposition takes on an adversarial role. This includes routinely criticising government legislation and actions, as well as providing the Canadian public with alternative policies. In some cases, the opposition may even organise to bring down the government, by voting against key pieces of government legislation, including the annual budget .

    Mohammed said the party sought to shut down government so that the government would not shut down the country. (See box)

    He said the step would not hurt the people. “Government is about people, if there is no peace and stability, what is happening in Rivers State might escalate to other states. And if that is the case, what will be the importance of any budget? So, why are we putting the budget over and above the life of the average citizen in Rivers State? People called to tell us that our position is ante-people but we say no. Any government that does not believe in fairness, justice and equity is anti-people. Any government that cannot protect its entire people is anti-people. Any government that does not respect the rule of law is anti-people. So, what we are doing is a patriotic service to Nigeria,” he said.

    The party said once the President stops what is happening in Rivers State there will be no reason to filibuster.

  • Rivers: Blame Mbu for return of militants

    Rivers: Blame Mbu for return of militants

    True to his word Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, returned to the same spot in Bori Ogoniland yesterday, a week after hoodlums disrupted his rally, shooting into the crowd and vehicles in his convoy.

    He took swipes at the Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu, for encouraging the militants to take up arms against the people.

    ”The same people (militants) we chased away with the military are back to our state, fuelled by a man called Mbu and his cohorts in Abuja.

    “They do not mind that your lives are important. They want to sacrifice your lives just to earn the office of presidency and the office governorship,” Amaechi told his supporters at Saints’ Anglican Church premises.

    He berated an ex-militant who was said to have masterminded last week’s shooting.

    ”In 2007, this territory (Ogoni) belonged to one man called Solomon. I learnt he came to shoot here (Bori). Nobody could gather. Police could not even gather here. They were being shot at. I bought for the police 7 APCs (Armoured Personnel Carriers). They were afraid,” he said.

    This time, the rally organised by Save Rivers Movement (SRM) was peaceful with armed policemen providing security in and around the area.

    He wondered why the federal government was reluctant to release the $1billion recommended for the cleaning up of Ogoniland by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

    He said the release of the funds would have transformed the four local government areas of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme.

    “UNEP finished all it needed to go and recommended that spend at least $1 billion in the cleanup of Ogoni and the development of Ogoni people,” Amaechi said.

    He added: “Have you seen the $1 billion (from the federal government) and they want you to vote for them? It will be a foolish man that will vote for the person, who denies you your rights.

    “ÜNEP asked Federal government to spend $1billion in Ogoni to change things, they said no. $49.8 billion is missing. If they say $49.8 billion is not missing, let them tell us where the money is. Let them publish. It is in their pocket.”

    “Without the UNEP report, the federal government cannot develop Ogoni. You are all suffering. You cannot fish. You cannot farm because your land is polluted.”

    He charged the Ogoni and the people of the state to stand up to whoever might want to harass or intimidate them for political gains.

    He said that by resisting oppression, the people would be forcing their oppressors to initiate peace.

    The governor went on: “I do not want to come back to Ogoni to hear that you were shattered. I do not want you to take the law into your own hands but I want you to make sure that nobody shoots at you.

    “They (gun-wielding militants) are all human beings. They are not ghosts. They are neither angels nor devil. They are human beings like you. If a man slaps you and gets away with it, tomorrow, he will come back.

    “The history of Ogoni is replete with struggle. They killed Ken Saro-Wiwa (during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha on November 10, 1995).Is the struggle over?

    “The man said you might take away my life but you would not take away the idea. You can kill the messenger, not the message. The idea of the liberation of the Ogoni people, is it not still on?  I have been part of that idea.”

    He dismissed politicians fighting him, especially leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as hungry people, saying that his new party the All Progressives Congress (APC), is the fastest-growing political party in the country today and is prepared to transform Nigeria forever.

    He said: “PDP claims to be the biggest party in Nigeria. APC is the fastest -growing party in Nigeria. Then, there was no ACN, no CPC, only PDP in Rivers State. Now, they have seen another party, why are they afraid?

    “Why are they fighting? Why are they shooting? Why are they using policemen? They should allow voting to take place.”

    In a solidarity message from his sick bed abroad, Senator Magnus Abe, who was shot by the police at an earlier rally described  the massive turnout at yesterday’s rally, as a proof that violence cannot subdue the spirit of a free people.

    Abe, an Ogoni, who monitored the inauguration and rally from London, noted that the successful hosting of the event in the face of threats and intimidation was a confirmation that the principle of non-violence with which Ogoni heroes fought the then federal military government and multinational corporations was still the best weapon.

    He praised Amaechi for his courage and exemplary commitment to Ogoni course, saying: “the governor was ready to take the first bullet for Ogoni. His courage, doggedness and commitment to truth continue to justify the decision of true Rivers people to stand with him in the defence of our state.”