Also, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar, yesterday identified bad governance, disrespect for rule of law and constitutional provisions as the principal causes of violence and displacement in the country.
This is even as thousands of anti-Governor Rotimi Amaechi youths stormed the Rivers State House of Assembly complex, forcing the lawmakers to adjourn sitting indefinitely. In a statement titled, “Cool it, President Goodluck Jonathan,” Soyinka cautioned that the abuse of federal might, the police and destabilisation of the legislature was not healthy for the polity.
“Before the irretrievable point of escalation is reached, we have a duty to sound a collective alarm, even without the lessons of past violations of constitutional rights and apportionments of elected representatives of the people, and their consequences,” he said.
Soyinka decried the subtle and crude ways the Presidency is handling its disagreement with Amaechi, which is heating the polity in Rivers State. He said for the survival of democracy in the country, President Jonathan should stop the Federal Government- backed attack on Rivers State.
“There is an opportunity in Rivers State to break this spiralling culture of executive impunity – manifested in both subtle and crude ways – that is fast becoming the norm in a post-military dispensation that fitfully aspires to be called a democracy.”
The literary giant noted that a responsible government must reduce the increasing flash points in the country not to escalate it. His words: “The increasing flashpoints in the nation have reached an unsustainable level, and responsible governance must accept that it is an urgent duty to diminish, not increase them.
“Even the notoriously short Nigerian memory remains traumatised by recollection of the rape of Anambra that was enabled by the connivance of federal might, and the abandonment of all moral scruples in executive disposition.
“The people of Ogun State were humiliated by the antics of a power besotted governor, with their elected legislators locked out of the House of Assembly for upwards of a year.
“That hideous travesty was again made possible by the abusive use of the police. Even a child in this nation knows that the police derive its enabling and operational authority from the dictates of the centre, so there can be no disguising whose will is being executed wherever democratic norms are flouted and the people’s rights ground to mush under dictatorial heels.”
This is the third time in the past three months that Soyinka will be raising the alarm on the state of the nation.
In March, Soyinka had urged President Jonathan to urgently address insecurity in the country. “Those who do not understand it, I feel very sorry for them because they will one day wake up and find out that we have fallen as a nation,” he had warned. Also on April 29, he warned against manipulating the judiciary. He said that non-adherence to the warning might lead to the breakdown of law and order.
The CJN, who spoke in Abuja yesterday at a workshop on “Refugee law for judges and khadis,” organised by the National Judicial Institute, NJI, noted that unlike in the past, internal displacement was becoming a common phenomenon nationwide. She blamed this development on increasing cases of inter-communal, political and religious violence; forced evictions and flooding.
Justice Mukhtar argued that although it was necessary to address the needs and welfare of victims of social strife and natural disasters, refugees and internally displaced, it was better to avoid situations that produce such vulnerable groups.
“This is an area where the political class must be up and doing. And I hold the view that good governance, respect for fundamental rights of citizenry as stipulated in the constitution and strict obedience to the rule of law will promote peace rather than internal displacement and refugee crisis,” she said.
The Administrator, NJI, Justice Umaru Eri, said the workshop, the first of which was held last year, was intended to contribute to the development of refugee law in the country.
He praised the country’s efforts in the enactment of laws to protect refugees and the internally displaced and expressed delight that the country has ratified the basic international instruments on the protection of refugees at the international and regional levels.
Meanwhile, the crisis rocking the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took another dimension yesterday when the House of Assembly again adjourned sitting indefinitely after hundreds of protesters stormed the complex.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, yesterday declared that the state was under siege by forces planning to cause confusion to give way to the declaration of a state of emergency.
Curiously, some lawmakers denied knowledge of the postponement, accusing the Speaker and the other 26 members of perpetrating illegal acts by suspending the Chairman of Obior/Akpo Local Government without following laid down regulations.
The Speaker, who spoke through his press secretary, Udede Jim-Opiki, said the House could not sit due to the security situation in the state. He explained that letters had been sent to all the members of the House to reconvene by 10a.m. yesterday but that some people invaded the Assembly Complex, necessitating a postponement.
“We had visitors that didn’t look friendly; they didn’t come in tens or hundreds, but in thousands. Some were chanting war songs, while others were calling for the resignation of the Speaker. It was part of the script.
The legislature is part of democracy, if the legislature is crippled, there will be no democracy,” the Speaker said. The Speaker added: “We have adjourned sine dine (indefinitely) until normalcy returns to the state.
There are ways to remove people; it is not that the party will say that people should go.” On the rumour that the opposition lawmakers brought in a mace to resume sitting, Amachree said: “We have said it is a Nollywood movie and if you are not the writer of the script, you won’t know what happens.”
The Speaker explained that his group got wind of the planned disturbance late on Sunday night and only took the decision after and that it was probably too late to inform everybody then.
Also, the opposition lawmakers in the Assembly have queried the suspension of the Chairman of the Obior/Akpor Local Government Council without due process by the 27 lawmakers. Hon. Evans Bipi (Ogunbolo Constituency) queried the source of the report the House used to suspend the council executives.
‘’Where did they get the report? As a member of the Assembly, I know there was nothing like that,” Bipi said. In a related development, thousands of youths under the aegis of Grassroots Democracy Initiative, GDI, from all the 23 local government areas of the state stormed the Assembly complex yesterday to protest against the conduct of the 27 members of the Assembly. The youths who carried various placards were said to have moved from the headquarters of the Obiro/ Akpor Local Government to the Assembly complex.
The GDI is founded and led by the new Chairman of the Rivers State PDP, Felix Obuah. In yet another related development, a Port Harcourt High Court handling the case filed by the 27 state lawmakers against the state executive has adjourned the case till May 23. The PDP yesterday filed a motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the case between it and the suspended 27 legislators.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Commissioner of information and Communications, Ibim Semintari, told newsmen yesterday, that there is no cause for alarm in the state as Governor Amaechi is in total control of the situation.
She also warned that what happened to former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye, who was impeached by fewer numbers of lawmakers required will not happen in Rivers State as she said that the people are ready to defend their votes.
“Governor Amaechi is in full control of the state. I know that there are no matters for concern in Rivers State. I am aware that a couple of hoodlums and rabble rousers are trying to cause disaffection in the state and trying to pretend that there is chaos in Rivers State.
“However, we are certain that there is no chaos in Rivers State and that government is in full control of the situation and that we are briefed as at when due. Let me just say that as far back as about two weeks ago, we had heard of rumours of a few miscreants making an attempt to foist something that is totally undemocratic on the people of Rivers State.
We are aware that people were imagining that it will be possible to attempt a Dariye treatment in Rivers State where they will take just five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly out of 32 members and attempt an impeachment of the Governor of Rivers State. She warned that the people of the state will resist any attempt to oust their democratically-elected governor.
“This is Rivers State, this is not Plateau State and Nigerians are lot more aware now than they were at that time. This democracy must stand and the people of Rivers State will defend every vote that they have cast for Governor Amaechi. So, there is no way it is going to happen that a very tiny insignificant minority in the Rivers State House of Assembly will be able to oust Amaechi,” Semintari said.
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