Fresh facts reaching Newsdiaryonline.com indicate that some security and police personnel known to have participated in the mayhem at the Rivers State House of Assembly will soon appear before panels established after secrets review of videos and other evidence.
In particular, an SSS personnel who was clearly seen in some of the videos is believed to have been ordered to appear before a probe panel possibly in Abuja in the coming week by the service.It was not immediately clear if others in the service will appear along with him.
Aside from the security personnel, some policemen known to have participated in the debacle will also face a Police panel to answer charges against them.
The exact date and venue of these separate but related sittings are not clear.But the Inspector General has swiftly set up a high-powered panel to investigate the conduct of police officers in the crisis.
A knowledgeable source said the state security service is also conducting its own probe into the matter and its panel is expected to give those “found wanting fair hearing” .
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Diaspora Professionals Forum (NDPF) has described the events in Rivers State as very “unsettling”.The Forum in a statement emailed to Newsdiaryonline.com said “That the recent attacks on the Rivers State House of Assembly and the assassination attempt on the the Governor, Rt. Hon Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi is yet another unsettling signpost to a new wave of authoritarianism that poses grave danger to the consolidation of democratic culture in Nigeria.
“The NDPF hereby condemns the action of these apostles of violence in strongest terms. We are concerned that the alleged plan to return the Rivers state and the Niger Delta region into an era of free reign of violence and terror is an ill wind that blows no good and must be resisted by all lovers of democracy worldwide. The memory of our recent past remains a scar on our history as a region. The era that left most of us with no choice than to relocate abroad.”
Read the forum’s statement below:
ATTACK ON THE RIVERS STATE GOVERNOR AND THE MEMBERS OF THE RIVERS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY: OUR POSITION
The membership of the Nigerian Diaspora Professionals Forum (NDPF) met urgently to review the current events in our home country Nigeria, especially in Rivers State and resolved as follows:
That the recent attacks on the Rivers State House of Assembly and the assassination attempt on the the Governor, Rt. Hon Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi is yet another unsettling signpost to a new wave of authoritarianism that poses grave danger to the consolidation of democratic culture in Nigeria.
“The NDPF hereby condemns the action of these apostles of violence in strongest terms. We are concerned that the alleged plan to return the Rivers state and the Niger Delta region into an era of free reign of violence and terror is an ill wind that blows no good and must be resisted by all lovers of democracy worldwide. The memory of our recent past remains a scar on our history as a region. The era that left most of us with no choice than to relocate abroad.
“We are greatly disturbed about the security of our parents, sisters, brothers and cousins who have informed us that strange faces are being imported daily into Port Harcourt city from neighbouring states allegedly with caches of weapons and with fake police/military uniforms to cause mayhem. We ask the Nigerian government to investigate whether someone is actually preparing for war.
“The Goodluck Jonathan led federal government have worked relentlessly in containing the Boko Haram insurgencies in the North through a robust carrot and stick approach. We gathered reliably that relative calm has returned in some parts of that region; however it is unbelievable that someone who is acknowledged to be championing peace efforts in some other parts of the country is turning a blind eye to escalating violence in his own home region and the state where he grew up.
Furthermore, we are shocked and very concerned about recent comments by many prominent citizens of the state like Professor Tam David-West and respectable Nigerians like Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka alleging that persons associated with the Nigerian Presidency should be held responsible for the political persecution of Governor Amaechi and the recent attacks in the state.
“We are still chagrined that citizens of the Niger Delta Region can be linked to the sponsorship of criminal elements whose only aim is to set the region ablaze in order to achieve selfish political motives. Today the economy of our great country revolves on the proceeds from mostly oil and gas sales. Port Harcourt remains the oil capital of Nigeria and whatever threatens that city threatens the heartbeat of the Nigerian economy. Are these mischief makers seeking to shut down the Nigerian economy and destroy the livelihood of more that 180 million of our people?
“Only last year, the Nigerian Diaspora Community remitted 21 billion dollars (3.28 trillion naira) into our country. We rejoice at the ongoing transformation agenda of Mr. President and see it as an opportunity to invest additional resources in expanding the decaying infrastructure in our country, which will translate into more jobs for our teeming youth population and possibly trigger additional Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) for sustainable development and social transformation. However, with the escalating cases of insecurity, recurring incidences of violent politics and the prevalent atmosphere of uncertainty, many of us originally willing to support the well though t out agenda, may be forced to have a rethink.
“While we were meeting yesterday, we were reliably informed that soldiers attached to the Rivers State Governor have been withdrawn by the military high authorities ostensibly on orders from above. This might have left the security of the governor in the hands of personnel drawn predominantly from the Nigerian Police Force led by one Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu, the same allegedly partisan policeman who has displayed his disdain for the constituted authority of the Governor over the State. It has been widely reported that officers and men of the Nigerian Police Force provided a cover for ex-militants who protested against Rivers State government last month. It is also on record that the miscreants who attacked the Governor were probably escorted into the House of Assembly by the Nigerian Police. Indeed an officer of the Nigerian Police would have shot the governor at the instruction of a politician but for destiny and the timely intervention of Mr. Amaechi’s personal security aides and soldiers attached to him. The same squad of officers allegedly led anti-Amaechi protesters and threw canisters into the premises of Rivers State Government House.
“We are therefore startled that under these glaring acts of partisanship of the Rivers State Police Command, anyone will imagine how the governor of Rivers State can be said to be safe in their hands. With the withdrawal of the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) from the Rivers State Government House, it is very clear that those who probably failed to assassinate the Governor at the premises of the House of Assembly and their powerful sponsors are now poised to carry it out by redeploying all the soldiers who have been securing the Governor to make him vulnerable to any possible attack. This open plot is akin to asking the fowl to protect the cockroach or the cat to protect the mouse.
“NDPF and all our worldwide affiliates hereby call President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Azubuike Ihejirika to urgently intervene by restoring the security around the governor of Rivers State hence the world will blame them if anything untoward happens to him within this period. Nothing destroys the prosperity of any nation more than real or perceived insecurity. The only fathomable reason for the immediate and sinister withdrawal of these soldiers is that their continued presence around the Governor is a hindrance to the execution of a hideous police motive as witnessed the previous day, at the State House of Assembly, when they gallantly prevented the assassination of the Governor by a police orderly who cocked and pointed his gun at the governor on the express orders of his politician-boss to the consternation of all present.
“We call on all lovers of democracy worldwide to arise and join us in condemning the unfortunate show of shame in Rivers State, the desperation and brigandage perpetrated by a tiny section of the political class.
We remind them that the world cannot afford the consequences of plunging the entire West African region into an avoidable uncertainty, predictable catastrophe and anarchy of unimaginable proportions, when Nigeria erupts.
Aluta Continua. Victoria Acerta
Godspower P. Kolade Ph. D Mrs. Dominica Takena
Houston Texas, USA Grahamstown, South Africa
(2nd Vice Chairman) (Assistant Secretary General)
Kayode Adepoju ( MA) Mr. Yusuf Galadimma
Birmingham, United Kingdom Bonn Germany
(Ex. Officio I) (European Liaison)
