WITH the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree, warning Tuesday of a plot by the Felix Obuah-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to impeach Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the crisis in the state is set to take a turn for the worse.
The alarm was raised in a statement signed by the speaker. According to the speaker, a fake mace has been smuggled into the state to enable five members of the house who belong to Nyeson Wike’s faction hold an emergency session and impeach the governor.
The statement reads in part: “We have been reliably informed that a fake mace has been smuggled into the state to enable FIVE members of the house hold an emergency session even when the house adjourned sine die on Tuesday, April 23, 2013.
“The Abuja plan on ground is to falsely impeach the Rt. Hon. Speaker and the Executive Governor of Rivers State Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and create confusion through varied responses, which they hope will make the state ungovernable and provide them with some kind of warped basis to introduce Emergency Rule in Rivers State.”
The statement further stated that there were strong indications that some persons had been detailed exclusively to create systemic collapse of security in the state thereby putting lives and property in danger.
“This is undemocratic , unacceptable and a complete violation of the mandate that the good people of Rivers State have vested on us. We call on the good people of Rivers State to remain calm, watchful and law-abiding as the scenario unfolds.”
And outraged at the alleged persistent rift between President Goodluck Jonathan and Amaechi, the House of Representatives yesterday began moves to broker truce between them.
Amaechi is alleged to be interested in the Presidency in the 2015 polls. This has allegedly drawn the ire of Jonathan who is alleged to be interested in seeking re-election in 2015.
This clash of interests has allegedly culminated in the Presidency attempting to oust Amaechi as chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and the grounding of a Rivers State-owned aircraft by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) at the weekend.
Besides, the Rivers State government yesterday insisted on its ownership of the controversial Bombardier BD 700 Global Express jet, stressing that it was registered as a United States (U.S.) aircraft “ to preserve value, provide ease of operation and the sourcing of available pilots.”
Yesterday, a member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ahmed Idris (PDP, Wase, Plateau), who raised the issue of the rift between Jonathan and Amaechi under matters of urgent national importance, claimed that there were political undertones in Amaechi’s plight.
The lawmaker insinuated that the Presidency had made impunity, lawlessness and political vendetta the order of the day.
Pleading for the intervention of the House presided over by Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, he stated thus: “ I am concerned that this incident raises serious issues as to the abuse of power by the Executive and the use of state machinery to witch-hunt perceived political opponents which is extremely dangerous and detrimental to any democracy and tends towards dictatorship and draconian tendencies typical of the military era.”
Without any form of objection from the members, the Speaker mandated the House Committee on Justice and Aviation to, as a matter of urgency, extensively investigate the justification and circumstances surrounding the grounding of the aircraft and report back to the House within two weeks.
The House’s intervention came against the backdrop of the decision by the newly-inaugurated state executive council of the state People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by Felix Obuah giving Amaechi a 48-hour ultimatum to explain the real ownership of the state’s aircraft that was grounded last week or face a disciplinary action.
This ultimatum came despite explanations from the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, that all the documents of the aircraft were in place and that the state had applied formally to the minister of aviation for the import licence.
The House of Representatives is also set to partner stakeholders in the environment to develop a common agenda for the sector’s sustainability.
The parliament said the agenda was to help promote an effective and co-ordinated environmental policy that would tackle pollution and degradation as well as other issues related to the environment.
The Chairman of the House Panel on Environment, Uche Ekwunife who made the disclosure in Abuja yesterday, said “in order to achieve this, the committee will convoke a national conference on environment between May 20 and 21, 2013.”
She said the House was concerned about the level of devastation and trauma environmental problems cause the people of Nigeria and the economy, adding that the condition of the environment was often a reflection of the state of the well-being of a nation and its people.
According to Ekwunife, decisions concerning the environment often focus on the role of government, legislation and law enforcement but “ protecting the environment, however, is the responsibility of all stakeholders, including industry, indigenous groups, environmental groups, the general population and the media.”
The chairman noted that serious environmental pollution and degradation in the Niger Delta had dislocated the way of life and livelihood of numerous communities.
The House has also ordered an investigation into delays usually associated with accessing funds of dead persons by their named beneficiaries.
Specifically, the joint committee on Judiciary and Justice of the Chamber was given the mandate to convene a stakeholders’ meeting with a view to finding a way out of the lingering problem and report back to the House within two weeks.
Abiodun Abudu-Balogun who sponsored a motion on the need to stop the pains named beneficiaries of such funds usually go through in efforts at accessing them, said that it was time Nigerians were saved from the harrowing experiences.
According to him, while the process of obtaining letters of administration by such bereaved families at probate divisions of state and federal high courts is very cumbersome and corruption-ridden, banks which are custodians of the funds often use “both official and unofficial hurdles to frustrate beneficiaries.”
The lawmaker stated that unofficial statistics put the figures of such unaccessed funds at between N400 billion and N1 trillion with the banks, and according to him, obtaining a single letter of administration usually lasts over a year.
Besides, the House mandated its Committee on Health to investigate the high maternal and child mortality rate in the country and make recommendations on how to improve maternal health and safety in the country.
Adopting a motion brought by Daniel Effiong Akpan, the House lamented that despite the huge funds appropriated for the health sector in the yearly budget, the primary health care system in the country was still poor as the majority of women were unable to afford access to quality health services.
The reaction of the Rivers State’s government came on the heels of the state chapter of the PDP’s threat to sanction Amaechi by today if no explanation is given about the ownership of the aircraft.
Reacting to statements attributed to officials of different agencies in the aviation sector on the status of the aircraft, Semenitari said that the plane belonged to the state.
“Aircraft N 566 RS arrived in Nigeria and has been operating since October 2012. It was bought by the Rivers State Government and registered as a U.S. aircraft in the first instance, to preserve value and provide ease of operation and sourcing of available pilots. To qualify for N-registration, an operator must be a U.S. citizen hence the Rivers State government entered into a trust with Bank of Utah Inc, a bank which specialises in aircraft trust,” Semenitari said.
According to her, the relationship between the state government and Bank of Utah is that of a trustor and trustee and that an N-registered aircraft enjoys the privileges of a U.S. citizen and that trust agreement for the purpose of registration is common in the aviation industry.
The commissioner stated that there were other aircraft owners in Nigeria with N-registered aircraft. This practice, according to her, was because of the ease of movement that N-registered aircraft are privileged to enjoy. She therefore, wondered why the Rivers State government had been singled out for criticism.
She faulted the aviation authorities’ claim that the aircraft was given clearance to travel Accra-Port Harcourt-Accra whereas it was Port Harcourt-Accra-Port Harcourt. She also explained that the aircraft was being operated through a local operator, Caverton Helicopters, pending an approval of importation licence by the Minister of Aviation.
“Request for this licence was filed by the operator on behalf of the Rivers State government and this was expressly stated in the request filed on August 27, 2012 and received in the minister’s office on September 4, 2012. The Rivers State government is a responsible sub-national and guardian of the resources of its people. It will at all times and in all circumstances act within the confines of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Semenitari added.
The commissioner observed with concern that all of the information and queries about this aircraft had only been through the mass media. She reiterated that the government of Rivers State had not received any communication from the Ministry of Aviation or any of its agencies querying the status of its aircraft.