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Tag: PDP

  • Tukur begs Obasanjo: Please, don’t leave PDP

    Tukur begs Obasanjo: Please, don’t leave PDP

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday pleaded with former President Olusegun Obasanjo to rescind his decision to leave the party.

    The PDP, Tukur said in a statement, needs Obasanjo’s fatherly role and experience to get it on strong footing and make it more formidable.

    Obasanjo had, in a January 7, letter to Tukur and President Goodluck Jonathan indicated his intention to withdraw from the activities of the party citing in particular the ‘imposition’ of Alhaji Buruji Kashamu as leader of the party in the Southwest.

    The party chair said that Obasanjo’s withdrawal from the party at the approach of the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States would not do the PDP any good.

    He added that the party needed Obasanjo’s support and contribution in the struggle to reclaim lost grounds in the South West geopolitical zone.

    But he exonerated himself from the PDP crisis in the Southwest, saying: “We came in when we were threatened with contempt of court charges for not obeying the court’s order to dissolve the south-west zonal Executive and remove some officers of the party.

    “We complied with the court’s orders because of our belief in the rule of law and to avoid consequences of disobeying such orders.

    “It is my wish and prayer that such cordial and positive relationship will continue between your good self; former President and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of our great party on one hand, and my humble self, the National Chairman of our party on the other hand.”

    On Kashamu, Tukur said the man “came to limelight in politics as a result of the role he played in the politics of Ogun State where both of you come from. He later became a rallying point in the Southwest following court orders in the series of cases brought about as a result of disagreements among leaders of the party in the Southwest and Ogun State in particular.

    “In my opinion, Buruji became a rallying point because of the absence of a zonal executive in the Southwest. This vacuum in the Southwest has made him the person to whom many members in all the chapters of the party in the zone approach for one form of assistance or the order”.

    Kashamu himself replied Chief Obasanjo, saying the former president was a beneficiary of his (Kashamu’s) wealth.

    Kashamu, in a statement, said Obasanjo was engaging in “wicked campaign of calumny and blackmail in his perceived loss of political relevance in Ogun State and the South West.”

    He denied allegation by Obasanjo that he is “a wanted habitual criminal…for whom extradition has been requested by the US Government…”

    He said the former president has made him a target following “his (Obasanjo’s) perceived loss of political relevance in Ogun State and the South West.”

  • APC, PDP and the religion card

    APC, PDP and the religion card

    For the last couple of months the PDP has been on the back foot, haemorraghing members who have been dissolving into a resurgent APC. Now determined to stop the bleeding, the ruling party is fighting back on all fronts. Such is its desperation that some of its rabbit punches are now landing below the belt.

    One of the major talking points last week was the back and forth between the parties over the issue of religion. I am not too clear what provoked the mud fight, but the PDP accused its main rival of being an Islamic party that wanted to divide the country along religious lines.

    Stung by the charges, APC spokespersons warned the ruling party of the dangers of playing with the fiery subject of faith. The PDP would not back down. Instead its spokesman challenged its rival to publish a list of the names of the party’s interim officers.

    These exchanges are a foretaste of what to expect come the 2015 campaign season. Just thinking of it already makes me feel sick. It is not only through rigging that politicians dupe the electorate; they achieve the same end when they can get us distracted from the things that matter to focus on those that divide us.

    What makes APC an Islamic party? Does its manifesto commit it to an Islamist agenda? If the opposition party is Islamic does that mean that PDP is a Christian party just because President Jonathan professes that faith? There are millions of Nigerians who are Christians whose lives have not in any way been transformed by the regime of this Christian president.

    Depend on it also that tremendous heat would still be generated by those whipping up sentiments that opposition to Jonathan is because he’s from the South-South zone. You would find millions in the same zone whose reality of grinding poverty remains unchanged in the nearly five years of their kinsman’s presidency.

    Nigerians – the media especially – have a choice to make. We can decide that we want to be taken for the same old ride by the usual suspects playing the tried and tested primordial tricks to force themselves on the populace. Let’s not be fooled. There are no Islamic bridges or tarred roads, neither is there Christian tap water.

    Even as we speak the Central African Republic (CAR) is engulfed in a sectarian war that has split this poverty-stricken country in two. Christians and Muslims are at each other’s throats. The hapless President Michael Djotodia has been forced to resign by African leaders.

    Speaking with journalists following their evacuation from that sorry country, returnee Nigerians warned against allowing this country to be plunged into ethnic or religious war.

    Over in South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation is in the grip of a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his erstwhile deputy, Riek Machar. The fuel for the conflict is ethnicity; the body count so far is over one thousand.

    Dead bodies don’t have a religion; they are just dead! Nigerians must not be hoodwinked into ignoring critical issues of governance to start squabbling over who has a tribal mark or prays five times a day. In 2014 and 2015 we must demand from incumbent politicians – Christian, animist or Islamic – what they have done with our mandate.

  • PDP members’ defection to APC normal – Tukur

    PDP members’ defection to APC normal – Tukur

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has maintained that the defection of some of the party members to the opposition party was normal in a democracy.

    He stated this on Thursday in Abuja in reaction to the defection of 27 PDP members of Sokoto State House of Assembly to the All Progressives Congress.

    Tukur, who spoke after inaugurating a 14 member caretaker committee for the party`s Kwara State chapter, said the development would not affect the party in anyway.

    “If 27 have left, many would come in, that is the beauty of democracy. This is democracy in action where freedom of choice is entrenched,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the PDP chairman as saying at the forum.

    He said the inauguration of the PDP Kwara caretaker committee was the beginning of the process aimed at ensuring a foundation which the party had always advocated.

    Tukur maintained that the PDP stands for democracy not dictatorship.

    He tasked the committee members to ensure that they got the mandate of the electorate for the party in 2015.

     

     

  • PDP rejects budget

    PDP rejects budget

    The Felix Obuah-led Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has vowed to frustrate the implementation of the state’s 2014 Appropriation Bill, which was passed into law yesterday by lawmakers.

    Obuah issued the threat at a news conference he addressed in Port Harcourt, the state capital, shortly after the budget was passed.

    Twenty-five of the 31 state lawmakers passed Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s N486.5billion “budget of sustained action”.

    The session, which was held at the old Government House complex in the State House was presided over by the speaker Otelemaba Dan-Amachree.

    Presenting the bill to the members earlier, Amaechi said the budget was aimed at completing on-going projects in the state, to ensure no projects were left uncompleted as he leaves office in 2015.

    But the state PDP said the budget would not see the light of the day, because it was an act of illegality.

    According to Obuah, “the act of presenting and passing budget outside the legislative chamber is illegal, criminal and of no effect.”

  • ‘Oyegun Committee may not visit Kwara’

    ‘Oyegun Committee may not visit Kwara’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Reconciliation Committee may not visit the Kwara State chapter for now, its chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said.

    The former Edo State governor told our correspondent on phone that the committee was busy with similar assignment in Sokoto and Kano states.

    “We have no plan to visit Kwara State now. It is not yet part of our plans. The problem in Kwara can be solved locally. We have been talking to our people in Kwara”, he said.

    There have been anxiety in the Kwara APC, not among the party followers, but among some party leaders, who are facing political adjustment difficulties. While prominent leaders, including the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Layiwola Mohammed, have been working with the defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the camp of the former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Mr. Dele Belgore (SAN), is still lukewarm.

    However, many APC politicians have resolved to work for peace and unity, noting that this is the first time that the progressives will have the opportunity to be in power in the Northcentral state.

    Oyegun said that the crisis of confidence in Kwara APC will soon fizzle out, urging the chieftains to embrace and work in harmony.

    He added: “We have no problem in Kwara as such. The leaders are in touch with the chapter. We don’t have plan yet to visit the chapter. The challenge is not what our people in Kwara cannot solve. We have much to do in Kano and Sokoto. That is the situation for now”.

  • Senate unshaken by defections, says Enang

    Senate unshaken by defections, says Enang

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang, has said the threat of defection by aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators to the All Progressives Congress (APC) will not affect the activities of the Senate when it resumes next week.

    Enang told reporters yesterday in Abuja that the planned defection would not affect the Senate because the lawmakers are “responsible senator who are always interested in the unity and progress of the country.”

    He said the senators considered the interest of the country first before thinking of their political affiliations.

    Enang added: “The senators see themselves as one. What is paramount in their minds is how to develop the nation. We will all work together as a single body to address issues dispassionately.”

    The senator declined to comment on allegations that PDP lawmakers were demanding automatic tickets to remain loyal to the party.

    “The issue of defection is a matter being anticipated and I would not want to make comments on such issues,” Enang said.

    He stressed that the senators, on resumption next week, would start deliberations on this year’s budget.

    The senator said since last year’s appropriation cycle ended on December 31, the National Assembly has the responsibility to ensure that the 2014 Appropriation Bill is considered and approved early to enable the executive begin its implementation.

  • APC dividing Nigeria, says PDP

    APC dividing Nigeria, says PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) is attempting to divide Nigeria along religious lines.

    It accused the opposition of religious bias.

    The ruling party alleged that the APC was planning to impose Islam on the country.

    A statement yesterday by the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, alleged that the opposition was causing religious divisions and violence across the country.

    The statement reads: “This revelation, which came even from Muslims, goes to vindicate the PDP and confirm our earlier stand that the APC is a party of bloodthirsty, religious and ethnic bigots (who are) averse to the unity of the country and the peaceful co-existence of our people…”

  • APC’s dance with death? Scrutinise PDP supporters before ‘porting’ them to APC

    APC’s dance with death? Scrutinise PDP supporters before ‘porting’ them to APC

    As APC the political saviour? There is a gathering storm beyond the–‘Resign from elected office if you change party’, which is a principle I agree with, but parties have never applied it in Nigerian political history nor in the USA.

    Though I am neither Buhari fan, nor Tinubu fanatic, I am happy that APC started well but did it gather all the peripheral parties before, to use the IT term, ‘porting’ the New PDP elements? Now APC is compromised, some say contaminated, as a moral authority and ‘saviour’ with a progressive ideology. Absorbing willing PDP governors is a masterstroke, ‘The 2013 Civilian Coup’, not for any corruptly acquired ‘war chests’ rumoured to be the political custom, but only if the governors were screened and found efficient, people loving, non-corrupt and ideologically compatible to APC’s progressive agenda -which we have not seen.

    Is APC sacrificing integrity by its ‘APC dance with death’ i.e. with evil masquerades and yesterday’s historically established architects of Nigeria’s serial military, economic, electricity, refinery and political failures including letter writers?

    APC initiators are not saints, but appear the lesser evil when Nigerians need miracle ‘Good Governance- No Greed’ parties’. In the unregulated political arena, most politicians of all parties and all civil servants profiteer, stealing, by ‘divine right’ from the public purse. However the APC team apparently has done more for the people than those in the PDP and they ‘smell’ sweeter on the Corruption Index. Can APC lose its ‘saviour’ identity by these antics? It is already made overweight and unattractive by consuming everything PDP-good, bad and ugly. It may develop a tummy ache and have to vomit PDP rubbish.

    There is an argument that the APC must not make the Awolowo mistake of ‘puritanism’ said to have cost Awolowo the 1979 election to Shagari. Recent revelations suggest the military took the election from Awolowo and gave it to loser Shagari, precipitating a 35 year democracy backslide. Is voter results’ manipulation not a crime? The lesson for APC is that Awolowo’s moral force won the population’s vote and the election battle. However it lost him the war as it created enough fear in the ruling military class as to deny him victory like they did for Abiola later. It is now clear that the military never stopped planning a comeback anyway but it would have found it harder to fault a sounder Awolowo government than a wayward Shagari government with Umaru Dikko shenanigans. Remember that Jonathan was actually voted in by Nigerians for non-interference in round one of the last elections. Unfortunately, the subsequent avalanche of PDP baggage -paid employees, members, hangers-on, election riggers and probable thugs has resulted in the dead weight that is Jonathan’s current failure. This uncontrolled mass ‘porting of PDP’ to the APC, with admission of anything PDP, new and dropouts, may ‘win’ the short term battle for numbers in National Assembly and at governors’ meetings. However it will hamper the APC in the voting wars of, 2015, when it will need firstly, moral and ideological leadership to attract votes. Secondly, when APC will need to retire its current generals like Tinubu and Buhari and search for and throw up Nigeria’s real Kennedys, Mandelas, Martin Luther Kings and maybe Obamas like Fashola et al. They will marshal a new generation of front-liners to change the face of politics in Nigeria. Traditionally the old generals and politicians on Nigeria do not lie down well until they die still struggling to ensure Nigeria’s further failure. The old seek gratification, homage and payment into the grave. ‘The party must pay for my funeral’. The terrorists are with us-politicians.

    Will APC convert the PDP baggage ‘stalwarts’? Will the ‘I don port’ PDP bite at the heart of APC? APC must be cautious of having 100 past PDP stalwarts, a Trojan Horse, all with cell phone direct links to the old PDP hierarchy and destructive PDP machinery inside the APC fortress. Will they foment trouble instructing their followers to cause a violent exit, destroying the APC? And what quality of followership have the PDP leaders taken with them as they ‘port’ or change sides? Does the APC want the opposition’s ‘ace thugs’ hiding in its new political agbadas and babanrigas? Oyo State was dragged low into moral and human rights abuses by thuggery under PDP control. The APC and INEC, if serious, must talk to Governor Ajimobi about how he ‘de-thugged’ the elections and governance. Was it money, amnesty, employment, publicity or imprisonment? Who is screening the PDP followership ‘porting’ to APC? Are there any members of ‘Reformed Association of Thugs-RATs? APC should avoid ‘porting’ known thugs and murderous ‘petty’ strongmen. Clean up the parties!

    And who will de-fang the violent NURTW through positive publicity like enlightenment, positive newspaper stories, TV coverage of motor-park management and interviews. Elevate the esteem of the NURTW membership to make them ashamed to ‘thug’ in 2015. Nigerians are not burdened by apartheid or slavery but by ‘party’ slavery. Even apartheid victims had 46,000Mw electricity. Nigeria has 3,000Mw after 14 years of PDP apartheid! APC must not im-‘port’ the devil’s baggage. APC: Do not dance with death, stay ‘clean’ and the voters will ‘port to you’. Marry the devil, and die with the devil’s virus. Meanwhile what is APCs Solar Energy Strategy, please? APC should also check Kenya’s Solar Sunny Money Solar Roller and Geothermal Rift Valley programme shown on BBC.

  • 2015: PDP rules out automatic tickets for NASS members

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday said it would not offer automatic tickets to its incumbent National Assembly members in 2015 despite the spate of defections from its fold.

    “There will be nothing like automatic tickets for anyone; incumbents and challengers seeking the PDP ticket must go through the normal process to secure it,’’ the PDP Chairman, Zone 3 of Kaduna State, Mr. Joseph Gumbari, told the News Agency of Nigeria.

    Recent reports had quoted some federal lawmakers as insisting on automatic tickets for the 2015 race to stop them from joining others that defected to the rival Alliance for Progressives Change (APC).

    NAN reports that the ruling PDP has lost five governors, some key leaders and 37 House of Representatives members to the APC in the wave of defections that hit the party.

    But Gumbari, a former member of the House of Representatives, told NAN in Jos that conceding to the demand for automatic would “kill the PDP.”

    “No one can blackmail the PDP into making such concessions; we shall give the party’s tickets to only those who deserve it. Those who have performed and are still popular should have nothing to fear.

    “There are many law makers today that cannot visit their constituencies for fear that they could be attacked by their constituents.

    “Such people have abandoned the people and had offered nothing to better their lots. You cannot impose such people on the electorate because that will endanger our chances,’’ he said.

    He expressed surprise at the lawmakers’ demand, instead of working to popularise the party.

    Gumbari said that PDP’s tickets would only be given to members that had been consistent in shoring up its image and strengthening it through effective representation.

     

     

  • Rivers High Court bombed

    Rivers High Court bombed

    Another set on fire

    PDP, APC in blame game

    The political crisis in Rivers State seems to be getting worse, with Sunday night’s bombing of the high court on Omoku Road in Ahoada, headquarters of Ahoada East Local Government Area.

    Besides, an explosive device was discovered yesterday within the court’s premises.

    Also yesterday, the Rivers High Court in Okehi, headquarters of Etche Local Government Area, was razed. Documents were burnt in the incident, which Council Chairman Reginald Okwuoma described as a deliberate act by the opposition to ensure the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

    The Registrar of the Rivers High Court in Okehi, Ken Dappa, was shocked by the burning of the court by yet unknown arsonists. He described the incident as “condemnable”.

    The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers chapter, accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being behind the violence in the state, but PDP Chairman Felix Obuah blamed those he called government agents for the bomb blasts.

    The representative of Omuma/Etche Constituency in the House of Representatives, Ogbonna Nwuke, who is a former Rivers Commissioner for Information, said attacks on courts’ premises were “senseless”, noting that enemies of democracy were at work.

    The Officer-in-Charge of the Bomb Squad of the Rivers Police Command, Taiwo Akingbeyin, and the command’s spokesman, Ahmad Muhammad, confirmed the “explosion” in the Ahoada court and the razing of the Etche court. They urged residents not to panic.

    A senior member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), who would not want to be named, was at the Ahoaha court for his clients’ cases. He said the bomb “seriously damaged” a section of the court housing the secretariat of the NBA, Ahoada Branch.

    The lawyer also said that yesterday morning, a wrapped object, suspected to be another bomb, was discovered within the court’s premises.

    Joint Task Force (JTF) officers cordoned off the area as workers, lawyers and litigants scampered to safety.

    The court, presided over by Justice Charles Wali, who is handling the suit on the speakership of the state’s Assembly between Otelemaba Dan Amachree (who represents Asari-Toru Constituency) and Evans Bipi (Ogu/Bolo, First Lady’s ex-domestic aide), could not sit.

    The judicial workers, litigants and lawyers, according to the lawyer, were asked to vacate the premises.

    On December 18, last year, Justice Wali’s office and car park were hit by explosion at 3 am. A guard on duty was missing, two days after the judge restrained the self-acclaimed speaker (Bipi) from parading himself as the Assembly’s helmsman.

    The motion on notice for interlocutory injunction was adjourned on December 16 till yesterday for hearing, but the court could not sit yesterday because of the explosion.

    The main opposition party, in an online statement by the Interim Publicity Secretary of the Rivers chapter, Chief Andy Nweye, titled: “APC condemns Extension of violence to the Judiciary by the PDP”, described as barbaric, the bombing of the Ahoada court.

    APC said: “We totally condemn the present resort to physical violence against the judiciary and officials of court in Rivers State by members of the PDP.

    “The extension of violence to the judiciary in Rivers State by the PDP and their agents started to assume a dangerous dimension, after Justice Wali of the Ahoada High Court granted an injunction on December 16, restraining the member representing Ogu/Bolo in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, from parading himself as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

    “A few hours later, the court building was bombed by suspected PDP members/agents. In the night of Sunday, January 5, elements suspected to be members of the PDP bombed an Ahoada High Court building.

    ”Less than a week earlier, the PDP had widely circulated a press statement, signed by the PDP Chairman, Mr. Felix Obuah, claiming that the Governor of Rivers State was trying to use the same Ahoada High Court to protect the Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chief Chidi Lloyd, a claim that is vexatious, malicious and patent falsehood.

    “The Ahoada High Court complex has been cordoned off by the police, because of two objects confirmed by the police to be bombs, planted on the premises. These bombs have been planted by the PDP and its agents, to prevent the sitting of the Ahoada High Court, for the hearing of arguments on interlocutory injunction barring Evans Bipi from perpetually parading himself as Speaker of the State Assembly.”

    The party said rather than file papers and argue their case in court, its opponents had resorted to preventing the court from sitting through planting of bombs at the court premises.

    The statement went on: “Just yesterday, six individuals reportedly linked to Hon. Evans Bipi and Senator George Sekibo (the representative of Rivers East Senatorial District, an ally of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience, who wants to be Rivers Governor in 2015) were arrested on their way to Ogu/Bolo with seven AK-47 assault weapons, among others, by men of the JTF.”

    The party said the arrest of the six associates of Sekibo and Bipi had confirmed its worst fears that the PDP had resorted to using terrorism as official party policy.

    It insisted that it had every reason to strongly believe that the arrested, well-armed six men were part of the ruthless snipers PDP trained for use against political opponents.

    APC said: “Despite the PDP openly announcing the verdict that Justice Adama Iyayi-Laminkanra would give on the Obio/Akpor Local Government Council case, many weeks before the verdict was handed down, the APC did not resort to violence against the person of Justice Laminkanra, her court and any member or institution of the judiciary in Rivers State before, during and after the verdict was given.

    “We are deeply surprised that despite the obvious perpetration of these dastardly acts of violence against the judiciary by suspected members of the PDP and the GDI (Grassroots Development Initiative, which has as Grand Patron, the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike), the Rivers State Police Command and other security agencies in the state are yet to make arrest and it appears that they are not in any hurry to investigate this spate of bombings and attacks.”

    The opposition party also pleaded with the authorities to compel security agencies to wake up to their responsibilities of securing lives and properties of the state’s residents by promptly arresting, investigating and prosecuting all those involved in violence.

    APC stated that the quick action should be taken by the security agencies, to avert a situation whereby individuals and groups would resort to self-help.

    The representative of Omuma/Etche Constituency in the House of Representatives (Ogbonna Nwuke) also said the razing of the Okehi court raised many questions, especially why any reasonable person would want to attack court premises.

    Nwuke said: “Enemies of democracy are at work. Those who do not want to respect the rights of others, those who do believe in the rule of law and those who have no regard for people’s lives are at work.

    “The law enforcement agencies should apprehend these faceless persons, who for political reasons, think the best thing to do is to turn Rivers State into an environment of terror. This is the worst thing that should happen in this country.

    “The judiciary should take note that there are people who do not believe in the rule of law there are people who do not believe in the justice system and there are people out to intimidate others by all means, all in the name of politics.”

    The former Rivers information commissioner also urged law enforcement agents to protect the interest of the common man, which the judicial process represents.

    Nwuke added that emphasis must be placed on the fact that people could find justice when they go to court, have access to the law courts, with the judicial officers adequately protected.

    Obuah said: “The case that temporarily restrained Hon. Evans Bipi from parading himself as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly was to come up today (yesterday) at the Ahoada high Court.

    “Our team of lawyers, made up of over 10 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) from Abuja and Lagos arrived at the Ahoada High Court this (yesterday) morning to argue for the vacation of the interim order and saw the senseless and barbaric destruction of the Court.

    “The PDP makes bold to suspect that the reported bombing was carried out by the agents of the Rivers State Government to prevent the court from sitting, so that the court would not be able to vacate the interim order made by the Ahoada High Court Judge, Hon Justice Charles Wali.

    “Their aim also of bombing the Ahoada High Court is to further create a state of insecurity in Rivers State, to justify their continuous call for the removal of the State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu.

    “The PDP wishes to remind Rotimi Amaechi and his agents of darkness that the interim order issued by Justice Charles Wali of the Ahoada High Court lasted for only seven days, and it has since expired. Therefore, bombing the court to prevent it from sitting is a wasted, wicked, callous and shameful exercise by agents of Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    “The PDP condemns Rotimi Amaechi’s desperation for power and assures that Amaechi will be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order in Rivers State.”

    Justice Wali also ordered that the status quo ante bellum prior to the July 9 fracas on the floor of the Rivers House of Assembly be maintained.

    He ordered that Bipi must stop calling himself, acknowledging, allowing himself to be addressed as speaker or writing to any person/authority whatsoever in that capacity.

    The judge also restrained Bipi from presiding either at plenary or committee of the House as speaker and acting in any manner whatsoever as the speaker.

    Bipi must also not do anything to obstruct, hinder, prevent or disturb Amachree from performing his duties as the speaker. Security agencies to enforce the order.

    The suit was filed by the Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly (Amachree) and his deputy, Leyii Kwanee, with the Rivers House of Assembly, other lawmakers and the security agencies as defendants.

    Bipi, however, vowed never to obey a “kangaroo” order, insisting that he remained the speaker.