•N’Assembly, MOSOP censure attack •Rivers PDP: Senator’s shooting fictitious
By Ernest Chinwo, Omololu Ogunmade and Muhammad Bello
The Eleme axis of the East-West Road was shut down Monday by youths of Ogoni origin who were protesting against the shooting of Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe, by the police last Sunday.
This came as the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) warned that it would not accept the spilling of the blood of any Ogoni son or daughter in the festering political crisis in Rivers State and called for a thorough investigation of the incident by the federal government.
Also reacting to the attacks on Abe in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, and Senator Muhammed Ndume’s convoy by a Nigeria Air Force fighter jet in Borno State, the National Assembly condemned, in the strongest possible terms, the assault on senators of the federal legislature.
But the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the shooting as fictitious, adding that the Ogoni youths were hired and paid N10,000 each to protest against the incident.
Abe, who represents Rivers South-east Senatorial District in the National Assembly, was allegedly shot twice with rubber bullets by the police before the commencement of a rally organised by the Save Rivers Movement (SRM), a pro-Governor Chibuike Amaechi and All Progressives Congress (APC) political pressure group, at the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Rumuola, Port Harcourt.
Abe, who hails from Beta community in Ogoniland, was Sunday evening flown to London for medical attention after receiving first aid treatment in two hospitals in Port Harcourt.
The group of Ogoni youths barricaded the East-West Road around the Port Harcourt Refinery, the Eleme Indorama Petroleum Company, and the Onne Sea Port, amongst others, chanting anti-police songs.
THISDAY gathered that the youths were marching to the Government House, Port Harcourt, through the East-West Road and Aba Road when they were dispersed by the police using teargas at Akpajo junction, Eleme.
Commenting on the incident on Sunday, MOSOP condemned what it described as the high handedness and excessive use of force by the police to stop the SRM rally and warned that it would not accept the spilling of the blood of any Ogoniman in the political crisis in the state.
In a statement issued yesterday, President of MOSOP, Mr. Legborsi Pyagbara, said the action of the police violated the fundamental human rights of the people.
Pyagbara said: “We had hoped that politics in this dispensation will be played with civility, decency and would be devoid of political violence. The current level of political intolerance in the country and in Rivers State in particular is deeply troubling and condemnable.
“Recognising that the Ogoni people had made so much sacrifice for democracy which is being enjoyed in the country today and for which we have not benefited commensurably, we deplore the situation where any Ogoniman would become the first victim to be sacrificed on the altar of political acrimony or political violence in Rivers State.
“Even if Senator Abe or members of his group had committed any offence, there were civilised and lawful options available that the police could have adopted in dealing with the situation instead of the resort to violence and shooting.
“At least, the fundamental rights of these citizens to peaceful assembly and association guaranteed by our constitution and international human rights law should have been respected.
“In the present circumstances, we consider the action of the police as unprofessional, insensitive and an unfortunate demonstration of the growing regime of impunity in the country which we must all rise up to tame if democracy must survive.
‘No matter what may have happened, the group or Senator Abe did not merit such level of cruelty.
“As MOSOP had warned recently on Ogoni Day, never again shall we allow the blood of any Ogoni person, irrespective of political persuasions, political parties or affiliations, to be spilled needlessly in the name of politics.”
He called on the Inspector General of Police (IG), Muhammed Abubakar, and the federal government to urgently conduct a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the incident with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice.
However, the state chapter of the PDP has said the whole story surrounding the alleged shooting of Abe was dramatised and full of fiction.
A statement issued by the media aide to the state chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, said an incident at the Gokana Local government Council secretariat yesterday in which some youths vandalised sections of the complex while demanding payment for being part of the protest vindicated the stand of the party.
The statement said: “The Peoples Democratic Party, Rivers State chapter, says the attack on some sections of the Gokana Council secretariat today, Monday, January 13, 2014 by angry youths vindicates our earlier position that the whole story surrounding the alleged shooting of the Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Magnus Abe was dramatised and full of fiction.
“The party notes with bitterness the level of desperation on the part of Governor Chubuike Amaechi and his allies which led them to hire thugs to cause obstruction to movement and activities along the Ogoni axis of the East-West Road early today (yesterday) in a quest to draw attention to the alleged shooting of the senator yesterday (Sunday) in Port Harcourt.
“The PDP says it is vindicated as the thugs who were promised N10,000 each on completion of their assignment on the road, by their employers, were disappointed with the payment of N1,000 each, an action that ignited the youths to vent their anger on the Gokana Council secretariat building, leading to the looting and massive damage of some sections of the building and vehicles parked around the vicinity.
“The thugs also in a bid to get the N10,000 each, as promised, are on the trail of the Gokana Council Chairman, Mr Ledee Demua Ledee and the State Commissioner for Works, Chief Victor Giadom, who the hoodlums said engaged them.”
The PDP also said it welcomed the resignation of the state Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Stanley Uwom, from Amaechi’s cabinet.
The statement said the party believes that “it is only men without courage and those who prefer to continue to act irresponsibly that will allow themselves to be tossed around by Governor Amaechi,” adding that “in no distant time, the governor will be left alone to hide his face in shame.”
On its part, SRM raised the alarm over five of its members, which it said were still missing following the police attack that scuttled its rally at Rumuola in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State last Sunday.
Chairman of SRM, Mr. Charles Aholu, made the disclosure yesterday while briefing journalists on the botched rally of the movement.
Aholu, however, refused to disclose the names of the missing persons for what he described as “security reasons”.
He restated that the police lied when it said the movement neither applied for nor got a police permit for the rally.
He said: “In the first place, I want to categorically debunk the assertion by the Police Commissioner that there was no official communication between Save Rivers Movement and the police to hold a rally.
“Precisely on January 7, 2014, the SRM notified the police authorities and we have a copy of that notification here of our rally in Obio/Akpor and Khana Local Governments Areas respectively and it is stamped received.
“It is very clear for all to see. So that assertion by the CP that there was no form of communication on our programme is not only false, it is an attempt to stop us from legitimately pursuing our objectives as provided under the constitution of Save Rivers Movement and enjoying our rights as guaranteed under the Constitution of Nigeria.”
Also weighing in on the issue, the National Assembly yesterday condemned in strong terms the continuous power struggle in Rivers State, which resulted in the alleged tear-gassing and shooting of Abe with rubber bullets by the police.
In its comment on the development, the Senate decried Sunday’s violence and lamented the injuries that the episode inflicted on Abe, one of its members.
Senate spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said in Abuja that the upper chamber of the National Assembly was disturbed by the episode and regretted that a proposed peaceful event turned out to be violent, leading to injuries inflicted on a senator.
He advised Nigerians to adhere to the advice of President Goodluck Jonathan against violence on Sunday.
The Senate also called on the IG to immediately commence investigation into the mayhem with a view to forestalling its recurrence in the future.
Abaribe urged Nigerian politicians and their supporters to forthwith exercise restraint in embarking on actions which he said were inimical to peace and capable of heating up the polity.
“On this score, the Senate associates itself with the admonition of President Goodluck Jonathan on his pronouncements to mark the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, where he warned that no Nigerian blood is worth spilling in the name of politics.
“Consequently, the Senate urges the Inspector General of Police to investigate the latest incident and ensure that it never recurs,” he said.
“In the same vein, the Senate advises politicians and their supporters to exercise greater restraint and avoid acts that will not only overheat the system but may harm the country’s democracy,” he added.
The House of Representatives also condemned the attacks on Abe and Ndume’s convoy in Borno State by a Nigeria Air Force fighter jet, adding that given the inability of law enforcement agencies to discharge their duties impartially, it may be necessary to consider calls by different stakeholders for state police in order to tackle the menace of insecurity that has become so rampant across the country.
Speaking on the incidents in Rivers and Borno States yesterday, the House Chairman Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, said the yearning for the de-centralisation of the police might be the panacea to the problem of constant insecurity in the country.
Condemning the attacks, Zakari said: “The call for state police may not be out of place,” stressing that this was necessary in order to circumvent the current red tape that holds down quick response to crisis.
Noting that the country is so geographically widespread and too big for the sluggish bureaucracy of the security agencies, with operatives that are poorly trained, the House urged the federal government and other relevant agencies to institute an investigation into the incidents in Rivers and Borno States and bring the perpetrators to book.
Zakari described the attack on the lawmakers as “quite sad”, observing that the claim by the security operatives that Ndume’s convoy looked suspicious, thus warranting the air force fire, was skewed as it exposed the impunity with which they (security operatives) conduct their activities.
“Any attack on harmless civilians, not only senators, is condemnable. The Sunday attacks are sad developments,” Zakari stressed.
Source: ThisDay
