Mayhem In Rivers House Of Assembly

The political  crisis in  Rivers State degenerated  on  Tuesday as an attempt to impeach the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Otelemaba Amachree, sparked a free-for-all.

Five members of the House opposed to Governor Rotimi Amaechi had engaged about 13 of their colleagues in a fight shortly after the pro-governor lawmakers resisted the move to remove Amachree.

The Leader of the House, Mr. Chidi Lloyd; Michael Chinda  and Martins Amahule, were however, not lucky as they sustained  serious injures during the fracas.

Amachree is known to be one of the governor’s strong supporters in the  crisis ravaging the state since the past four months.

The five anti-Amaechi members, who were present at the House as early as 8am on Tuesday,  had  after procuring  a fake mace,   decided to take charge of the sitting after waiting to no avail for the Speaker and his Deputy, Mr. Leyii Kwanee, to arrive.

It was gathered that one of the anti-Amaechi lawmakers, Mr. Kelechi Wogu,  moved a motion for Amaechree’s removal as the Speaker, a development, which infuriated Lloyd.

Lloyd was said to have dashed out of the Assembly with about four pro-Amaechi’s lawmakers to inform the governor about the development.

Before Lloyd and the  four lawmakers returned to the House, the five  anti-Amaechi members of the Assembly had already impeached Amachree and elected  Evans Bipi as his successor in a sitting that  was  described as a  kangaroo plenary. Amaechree was accused of ineptitude.

It was, however, at the point where Bipi was about giving his acceptance speech that  Amaechi,  Lloyd, Amachree, other lawmakers and security operatives  arrived at the Assembly.

Amaechi Emerges As NGF Chairman...

Months of intrigues and political permutations among the 36 state governors ended on Friday with the election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors' Forum for a second term.

The election, which was held at the Rivers State Governor's Lodge, in Abuja was witnessed by 35 out of the 36 state governors.

Only the governor of Yobe, Ibrahim Geidam, was not at the venue of the election and was not represented.

Amaechi defeated his only rival, Mr. Jonah Jang, who is the governor of Plateau State.

While Amaechi got 19 votes, Jang had 16.

Also elected as the deputy chairman of the forum was the Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulazees Yari, who was unopposed.

His rival for the position, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, had voluntarily withdrawn from the race.

Announcing the result of the election, the Returning Officer for the election, who is also the Director-General of the forum, Mr. Asishana Okauru, said the election was well contested.

Amaechi threatens to expose Abuja-based politicians

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has threatened to expose some Abuja-based politicians from the state owing to the crisis currently rocking the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

Amaechi, who said he was no more running for any political position, added that the people of the state would lose their respect for his critics by the time he opened up on their past deeds.

Amaechi, who spoke when the Archbishop of the Niger Delta Diocese, Anglican Communion, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, paid him a courtesy visit in Port Harcourt on Wednesday lamented that nobody realised the efforts put in place by his administration to ensure that peace reigned in the state.

He said, “I will speak to the state, but not now. When I speak to the state, you will not respect any of these people (Abuja-based politicians from Rivers). I am now determined to open up.