The Deputy Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Robinson Nname Ewor, represents the Ahoada East Constituency One in the Rivers West Senatorial District. Recently, he suffered the misfortune of having his aged mother abducted by kidnappers. He recalls the ugly experience in an interview with BISI OLANIYI and speaks on the crisis in the House of Assembly, stating that the self-acclaimed speaker of the assembly, Evans Bipi, and the five legislators supporting him do not conduct themselves as the honourable members. Ewor insists that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will win the 2015 elections in Rivers State on account of the performance of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Excerpts:
How did you meet your wife? I met my wife, Evelyn, when we were both at the Community Secondary School, Erema in Ogba/Ogbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, Rivers State. That was a long time ago. I was a year ahead of her in secondary school, but four years older than her. My wife was a very beautiful girl and a sprinter. She is still beautiful.
After secondary school, we were always having contact. We got married in 1995 and we are blessed with six children, three boys and three girls. They are all schooling in Nigeria. The first born has just gained admission into the university and is about resuming.
How has it been combining lawmaking with a full-time doctoral programme?
Legislative business is an area where you have to read. Combining academic work with lawmaking enhances my performance and makes me to read books, conduct research and look at the computer all the time. Each time I sit down to read books, I feel happy.
Do you intend to embrace lecturing after your political career?
If I do not secure elective position by 2015, I will go back to teach. I have no business roaming the streets. With a first degree and a master’s from UNIPORT and about completing doctorate, I will prefer teaching in the university, conduct research and do write-ups that will help the society. Nigerian politicians should begin to consider having second address. Some politicians are broke three months after they leave office. Some politicians would be in office for four years and would not be able to build a modest house to live in.
What was your experience with the July 9, 2013 fracas on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly?
The incident could have been avoided. There is no way five members of a 32-member Assembly would impeach the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Otelemaba Dan Amachree. Only two-thirds of the members of the House can impeach the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker. It is a constitutional matter. To be able to impeach the other officers of the House (leader, deputy leader, whip and deputy whip) in line with the Standing Order of the House, it must be by simple majority. A motion must be moved, properly seconded and the question will be put by the presiding officer. When they arrive at a simple majority, it is taken that the officers have been impeached.
The five lawmakers should not have contemplated going into the hallowed chambers of the House to consider impeaching the Speaker without firstly complying with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which states that you must serve the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker an impeachment notice and they must respond. After responding, it will then be put to vote. Quite unfortunately, the five lawmakers felt they could go ahead and impeach the Speaker without complying with the provisions of the constitution. I wonder where they derived their powers. Illegal impeachment is not possible in this modern day democracy and present day Nigeria.
Do you share the belief that the attempt to remove the Speaker on July 13 was aimed at impeaching Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF)?
The five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly wanted to remove Rt. Hon. Otelemaba Dan Amachree as the speaker, impose another speaker and thereafter impeach Governor Amaechi. They wanted to try the Dariye option. It worked then because we had just entered democracy. But democracy has endured for over 15 years now. The Dariye option of illegally removing a governor can no longer work because the people who elected Governor Amaechi would resist the impunity and unconstitutional impeachment move, as demonstrated by the people of Nasarawa State, when the lawmakers attempted to impeach Governor Tanko Al-Makura. Power rests with the people.
There was desperation on the part of the persons, who are indigenes of Rivers State but wanted to take over power from Governor Amaechi, because they have access to the Federal Government and used the federal institutions to perpetrate what they did.
Some people have fingered President Goodluck Jonathan in the plot to impeach Governor Amaechi. Do you subscribe to that?
Democracy is about freedom; freedom of association and of speech. You have the right to express your opinion. President Jonathan is not God. We elected him and we have the right to speak when the President is doing wrong in order to right the wrong. Rt. Hon. Amaechi, as an individual, as a governor and as the NGF (Nigeria Governors’ Forum) Chairman, he has the right not just to criticise but say the right things, and he has been saying the right things.
In Nigeria, each time we say the truth, some people will interpret it to mean disloyalty or confrontation. That is why people are afraid of saying the truth. All the things Governor Amaechi said were simply the truth. Did the Federal Government not move Rivers State’s oil wells to President Jonathan’s Bayelsa State and neighbouring Abia State? Did they not abandon the Port Harcourt International Airport at Omagwa? Check Federal Government’s 2013/2014 budget, there was no capital allocation to Rivers State. Everybody can see how slow the dualisation of the strategic East-West Road is.
Those who forced Governor Amaechi out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) want to be governor of Rivers State in 2015. It is obvious they were not fighting any genuine cause. They lied to President Jonathan that Governor Amaechi was not respecting him.
The representative of the Ogu/Bolo constituency, Evans Bipi, is still claiming to be the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. What is your reaction to that?
By the standing order of the Rivers State House of Assembly, no new member/first timer can be an officer of the Assembly. Bipi is a new member and he is disqualified to be the speaker. Who elected Bipi as the speaker? Five members in a 32-member Assembly could not have elected Bipi as speaker on July 9, 2013. Bear in mind that we have six officers in the House (speaker, deputy speaker, leader, deputy leader, whip and deputy whip). If you share the six positions among the then five members who attempted to impeach Rt. Hon. Amachree, they are not even complete. It is ridiculous. Bipi does not know what he is talking about. If truly he is a legislator, he should be ashamed of even talking in the public.
What of Evans Bipi’s claim that he has the key of the Rivers State House of Assembly in his pocket and can open it at any time?
Why has he not opened the Assembly since July 9, 2013 and go in to sit? It is a confirmation that he is not the Speaker. Bipi does not have what it takes to go and sit. Will he sit with five members?
Let us assume that Evans Bipi (Ogu/Bolo) is the speaker, Victor Ihunwo (Port Harcourt III, the only old timer/re-elected member, among the six) is the deputy speaker, Michael Okechukwu Chinda (Obio/Akpor 11) is the leader, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani (Andoni) is the deputy leader, Martins Amaewhule (Obio/Akpor I) is the whip and Kelechi Nwogu (Omuma) is the deputy whip, where are the other members of the House? They do not form a quorum.
The quorum of the House to sit is one third. There are 32 members in the House. That is why they cannot sit. To pass the budget, you compulsorily need two thirds of the members. That is the position of the law. How will the six members form a quorum to sit and legislate? It is ridiculous. They do not portray themselves as lawmakers. They are portraying themselves as street boys.
The self-acclaimed Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, the anti-Amaechi lawmakers described you and the other legislators backing Amaechi as rubber stamps supporting lawlessness and impunity…
If we are lawless or we are rubber stamps, then they are common criminals. They are animals in human flesh. Legislators ought to know the law. They ought to be in jail by now, if Nigeria is a country where things work well. Those who break the law ought to be in jail. They desecrated the hallowed chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly on July 9, 2013. They abused their legislative rights and privileges. So, why won’t they be in jail?
Quite unfortunately, they are still moving freely on the streets of Port Harcourt. Two of them are still residing in their official houses at the Assembly Quarters in Port Harcourt, which they have been doing from the beginning. The other four have been living outside the Assembly Quarters from the outset.
Two anti-Amaechi lawmakers stay with the 25 pro-Amaechi lawmakers at the Assembly Quarters. Do they relate freely with you?
We talk every day. We gist. We drink and eat together. But we abuse them. By now, the six of them will be counting their gains and losses. They were elected to serve their people. Instead of doing that, they decided to serve something else. The primary responsibility of lawmakers is to make laws. It is not to go and fight and attempt to remove the duly elected Speaker of the Assembly. We ought to be role models and people of integrity. The six lawmakers should go and read the meaning of “honourable.” We ought to be respected by people in the society because we make laws for the rest of the society.
It is alleged that Governor Amaechi has pocketed the legislators and he is also attempting to do the same to the judiciary. Members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Rivers Chapter, are not likely to call off their strike until January 2015. This, some people say, is meant to prevent Justice Daisy Okocha from functioning as an Administrative Chief Judge as appointed by the National Judicial Council (NJC)…
You elect a governor for a four-year mandate, but if you want to remove him unconstitutionally and illegally, he is bound to fight. There are constitutional provisions on how to remove a governor. If you want to remove a governor, mobilise the lawmakers and you must have two-thirds of them. The governor must be served with impeachment notice. He must respond to the allegations levelled against him. The House of Assembly will then push it back to the judiciary and the Chief Judge must constitute a seven-member panel to investigate the allegations, and the governor must be given fair hearing. The onus lies on the accusers to prove their case. The Rivers people elected Governor Amaechi and not one man. So, you cannot just wake up and say the governor must vacate office or he should be removed unconstitutionally/illegally.
On JUSUN strike, it is a crisis situation. Rivers State has been in crisis for more than one year. In a crisis situation, just like during war, people go through pains and sacrifice must be made. The way forward is for persons involved in the crisis to sheathe their swords and give peace a chance. Those who want to remove Governor Amaechi by force should be prepared to go to the poll and take over legally through election in 2015. They should forget about using soldiers and policemen to cripple the Rivers government, because the people will continue to resist them. We have consistently done it in this state and we will sustain it till the end of this dispensation.
Some people believe that the leadership of the PDP does not want Governor Amaechi to be in office till May 29, 2015, so that the party (PDP) can easily win both the governorship and presidential elections, with the likelihood of President Goodluck Jonathan seeking re-election. Do you share that view?
It is already impossible for anybody to contemplate removing Governor Amaechi. They tried through the legislature, they failed. They used the police, they failed. They attempted it through the judiciary and it is failing. Rt. Hon. Amaechi is with the people of Rivers State and the people want him. Governor Amaechi has delivered and the people will continue to move with him.
Governance is about deliverables. The All Progressives Congress (APC) will win 2015 elections in Rivers State, considering what Rt. Hon. Amaechi has put on the ground. He is performing in all the sectors. If not for the distraction over plot to impeach him, Rt. Hon. Amaechi would have done more. I am very confident that Governor Amaechi will serve out his tenure. Power belongs to God.
You have just said the APC would win the 2015 elections in Rivers State. But the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, who intends to vie as Rivers State governor in 2015, recently declared that the PDP would produce the next governor of the state. Do you think the APC can face the federal might?
Rivers people will decide who will be the next governor of the state. The era of rigging elections in Rivers State is gone. One or two politicians used to write the results of elections in Rivers State. The electorate’s votes will count in 2015. APC leaders are talking to the people of Rivers State. We are not relying on the military, police or the powers of the Presidency. APC will certainly win all the elections in Rivers State next year. We depend on God, not federal might.
President Jonathan is spending six years in office. His performance should campaign for him, not for Wike to be deceiving some Rivers people that he is sensitising them to vote for Dr. Jonathan, when he is busy campaigning for Rivers governorship, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act. Campaigns must only take place 90 days to elections. Can you show me one or two projects that President Jonathan has done in Rivers State that will encourage the people to vote for him? This is not about Wike’s rhetoric. In 2010, all of us fought for Dr. Jonathan to become President. The members of the National Assembly had to invoke the Doctrine of Necessity, just for him to be President.
In 2011, Rivers people massively voted for President Jonathan. In fact, Rivers State had the highest number of votes during the presidential election. But there has been no project initiated by the Federal Government in Rivers State to justify the support. Governor Amaechi has spent over N110 billion on federal projects in the state without a refund. Has Jonathan’s Presidency given Nigerians anything? Has it given us power, education, health, water, good roads, employment and agriculture, among others? We should consider APC in 2015 to bring about the much desired change.
With Wike as Minister of State for Education and later as the Supervising Minister of Education, you could see the terrible state of Nigerian education. Which Nigerian university, polytechnic or college of education can you give 20 per cent? The libraries, laboratories, classrooms and other essential things are not there. In some Nigerian universities, students still learn at the convocation arena, under the trees and stadia. It is very shameful. If we cannot provide classrooms, that means we have failed.
On April 29, 2013, Rivers PDP, led by Chief Felix Obuah, suspended you and other pro-Amaechi lawmakers from the party, but you recently defected to the APC. What went wrong?
Felix Obuah and members of his executive do not have the power to suspend us from the PDP. In line with PDP’s constitution, it is my ward that can suspend me. And before doing that, they must set up a disciplinary committee. I must be given fair hearing. The ward will forward the report to the local government executive committee of the party, thereafter to the state executive committee.
Obuah and his co-travellers do not know what they are doing. State legislators must know the Constitution of Nigeria. It should be our Bible or Quran. The next thing you must know is the Standing Order of the House. For you to advance arguments in the House, you must make reference to the Standing Order and the Constitution. If a pastor preaches for one hour, without making reference to the Bible, he cannot be said to be a pastor.
Most of officials of the PDP are in office but they do not read. If you do not read, you do not know. There are persons who spend four or eight years in the House of Assembly but do not know what the Standing Order talks about, much less of the Constitution.
How would you react to the move by the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, to be the next governor of Rivers State in spite of being an Ikwerre man like Governor Amaechi?
By 2015, Governor Amaechi would have spent eight years in office as governor, bearing in mind that he was also the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly for eight years between 1999 and 2007. It is not right for Wike or any other Ikwerre person to be the next governor of Rivers State. On moral grounds and because of our level of political development at the local government, state and national levels, people enter into internal agreements, even if they are not written. Rivers South-East Senatorial District, which has not produced the governor since the creation of the state on May 27, 1967, should be allowed in 2015 to produce the governor, for the sake of justice, equity and fairness.
Since 1999, Dr. Peter Odili is from Rivers West Senatorial District, while Sir Celestine Omehia and Governor Amaechi are from Rivers East Senatorial District. Power should rotate among the three senatorial districts in Rivers State. I do not believe in upland/riverine dichotomy.
After May 29, 2015, what next?
As a politician, one will always want to continue. I am still talking with my constituents. Whatever my constituents decide, I will abide by it, because I depend on their votes. In politics, we keep talking. We talk till the last minute.
How do you relax?
I go to public places and they roast fish for me.
Are you not scared of being kidnapped?
If I go to Ahoada, there is a place I drink with my people and it is by the roadside. As I park my car, before I sit down, the place is filled up with the people of my constituency. At times, before finishing, I would owe the owner of the joint. I would relax with my people for many hours and we would gist so well. Only that I have also tried to be careful after the kidnap of my mother, Madam Janet, in 2011. But I do not move with policemen. I move alone or at times with my driver and one or two persons. The gate to my house in the village was always open, but I started closing the gate after my mother was kidnapped. Whenever I am in the village, anybody is free to come in at any time.
Where is your mother now and how did the kidnap happen?
My mother briefly came to Port Harcourt, but she is back to the village. She cannot stay in Port Harcourt. She is an old woman, getting close to 80 years. The kidnappers went to the village compound of my father, Pa Enwukauma who died in 1994, and they kidnapped my mother around 7 pm. The four men who kidnapped her were heavily armed.
Then, there was good policing in Rivers State. The policemen, operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) and the military personnel worked together and tracked the calls of the kidnappers, a man and woman who were calling from Sapele in Delta State. Another man (kidnapper) was picked in Warri, Delta State, not knowing that my mother was kept in an uncompleted building for 12 days in a village near Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State.
The three persons were moved to Port Harcourt where they admitted that members of their group kidnapped my mother, but they were not the ones that carried it out. They gave us the names of the persons who kidnapped my mother. Soldiers, policemen and SSS operatives stormed Omoku for the rescue operation in the night. No ransom was paid to the kidnappers before my mother was released. Governor Amaechi supported the operation of the security personnel.
How was the experience like while your mother was with the kidnappers?
I could not eat for the 12 days my mother was in kidnappers’ den. The house was no longer comfortable. I would go to the office, lock up everywhere and stay till late in the evening, but would leave the phones open. Besides the pressure by the kidnappers for ransom, my own people too were mounting pressure on me to pay the ransom to secure the release of my mother in order that she would not die in the custody of the kidnappers. My people were threatening that if my mother should die in the hands of the kidnappers, they would kill me.
How much ransom did the kidnappers demand?
They started from N80 million. They later came down to N60 million. The day the security personnel rescued my mother, the kidnappers had come down to N1.5 million. That night, I brought the N1.5 million because of the pressure and I gave it to my brother, but I told him to wait, because I knew they were going for the rescue operation that night. I told my brother to wait for my call till 9 am the following day before proceeding to hand over the money to the kidnappers.
The security personnel, however, asked me not to negotiate with the kidnappers and never to speak with anybody that night. They went for the operation, led by an Army Captain, and they succeeded. Over 15 Toyota Hilux vans packed with soldiers, SSS operatives and policemen stormed Omoku. The three arrested kidnappers gave the name of the boy who kidnapped my mother and his house in Omoku. SSS operatives first went to the area on surveillance and identified the place as the boy’s house. They were not keeping my mother in the house.
Even the night the security personnel went, the boy was not in the house, but they arrested his father, all his brothers, wife and girlfriend that he kept in the house. He had almost abandoned his wife and was living more with the girlfriend. They asked the girlfriend to call him, which she did, and he was informed that everybody had been arrested.
The Army Captain told the boy that if he did not release my mother in 30 minutes, they would shoot all his people in their custody and the boy could go ahead to kill my mother, if he wanted. The boy started crying on the phone. Within 10 minutes, my mother was released. My mother said in the uncompleted building where she was kept for 12 days, one fully-armed man was kept permanently with her.
By 8 am, I was already at home and I met my mother with the Army Captain and other security personnel, who participated in the rescue operation. The money I gave to my brother to pay the kidnappers, we used it for celebration.
