An Ijaw group has called on the state legislature to carry out an independent forensic investigation into the demolition and destruction of the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex and given strong reasons why it should be done expeditiously.
The advocacy group, the Ijaw Strategic Think-tank, during a media briefing addressed by its convener, Amapipi Kalio, in Port Harcourt, described as shocking, its observation that the right questions are not asking.
The group wondered why people are not asking questions, such as, why a sudden Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack on a long existing and fully functional legislative complex, which resulted in a minor fire incident that did not reach up to three percent of the facility because it quickly extinguished by a swift collaboration between the men of the Rivers State Fire Service and volunteers, was used as an excuse to hurriedly demolish the seat of the state’s legislative authority.
The Ijaw Strategic Think-tank Convener, Amapipi Kalio, declared that the subsequent Rivers State House of Assembly Complex demolition had nothing whatsoever to do with its structure being compromised by the prior IED attack, and looked more like an act of subversion of the legislative authority of the House, especially as it concerns the principles of Check and Balances.
The Convener queried: “Who is the engineer that called for the demolition of the building? Where is the report? What was the input of the urban ministry and leadership of the Rivers State Assembly who are the beneficiaries of the building?
“This building was built from revenue from Ijaw land. We should look into why it was suddenly demolished. If it was demolished for the selfish interest of one man, then the perpetrator must pay for it. The time has passed when elected leaders will do whatever they have with public funds, without conscience. The billions used in renovating or building a fresh Assembly complex could have provided microfinance for Ijaw women, provided primary schools for our suffering children and health care centers for our fathers and mothers
“What sort of impunity will lead someone, elected by the people to hold their resources in trust, to suddenly commit such a sacrilegious crime just because he feels that his office is suddenly being contended for? This is a very dangerous trend which all Ijaw youths should rise up and condemn.”
Rivers State has been in the news consequent upon the subversive and treasonous moves by the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, to antidemocratically obstruct the formal impeachment proceedings initiated against him by the state’s legislature, a coequal branch of government with the executive he heads and the judiciary.
Reports emerged that the assembly complex had been bombed in the night shortly after news leaked that a notice of impeachment against Gov. Fubara had been signed by 27 House members and that it would be served on him after the next day’s sitting. The Rivers State Police Command announced an investigation into the infamous explosion at the complex but has for several weeks now neither briefed the public nor the leadership of the state legislature on its progress or otherwise.
The crisis between the Rivers State legislature and the executive governor raged on for weeks until Nigerian President Bola Tinubu heeded the growing call for him to intervene from some Ijaw elders, who constituted themselves into cheerleaders of the Rivers governor’s subversive actions against the state’s legislative authority
He subsequently brokered a seemingly fragile peace between the 27 legislators, who have the sympathy of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, and Gov. Fubara, who had rallied support for his subversive activities around Ijaw ethnic sentiments.
