Akwa Ibom Assembly crisis: Senate orders probe, Uyo women protest against CP

The Senate on Wednesday directed its Committee on Police Affairs to investigate the alleged invasion of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly by suspected thugs.

The committee led by a member of the APC from Zamfara North, Tijjani Kaura, was given 48 hours to present its findings to the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

In giving the committee the mandate, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, said the National Assembly should be interested wherever democracy was under threat.

“We were all here when this chamber was invaded. We cannot tolerate the invasion of the hallowed chamber of any legislative house. It is completely unacceptable.

“The Police Affairs Committee should find out what happened and report back to the Senate within 48 hours,” he directed.

The resolution followed the presentation made to the Senate by Bassey Akpan from Akwa Ibom North-East on the alleged invasion.

According to Akpan, some suspected thugs had on Tuesday invade the state House of Assembly and disrupted activities at the complex.

Describing himself as an eyewitness, the senator said he had first-hand information of the invasion, having accompanied the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, to the scene.

Akpan further claimed that the suspected hoodlums were allegedly led by a senior police officer in the state.

He accused the state Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo, of taking sides with the invaders whose mission he said was to truncate democracy in the state.

He said the police boss supported members of the All Progressives Congress who were in the minority in the House of Assembly to cause breakdown of law and order.

The Senate probe commenced just as a large crowd of Akwa Ibom women on Wednesday protested attempts by five members of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to impeach the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel.

The women, who marched round the major streets of Uyo, the state capital, also condemned the alleged police involvement in the crisis rocking the state House of Assembly.

The protest of the women took place just as the Senate directed its Committee on Police Affairs to investigate the invasion of the House by the All Progressives Congress five lawmakers, who were allegedly accompanied by policemen.

There was confusion at the House of Assembly when the five APC lawmakers  arrived  at the assembly on Tuesday morning and attempted to impeach the governor.

The five lawmakers were legislators, whose seats were recently declared vacant by the Speaker of the House, Onofiok Luke. They included  Nse Ntuen, representing Essien Udim State Constituency; Gabriel Toby (Etim Ekpo/Ika State Constituency); Idongesit Ituen, (Itu State Constituency);  Otobong Ndem (Mkpat Enin State Constituency) and Victor Udofia representing Ikono State Constituency.

The governor, who later led his loyalists and the Peoples Democratic Party supporters to the assembly, foiled the attempt to impeach him.

On Wednesday, women led by the state Commissioner of Women Affairs, Mrs Gloria Edet, marched round major streets of Uyo and demanded the sack of the police commissioner.

The women, who were accompanied by the Peoples Democratic Party Women Leader in the state, Mrs Mmeme Akpabio, and a former Minister of Lands, Dr Akon Eyakenyi, arrived the assembly complex at 9am.

They displayed placards with various inscriptions, most of which expressed solidarity with the governor while some called for the immediate redeployment of the commissioner of police.

While addressing the crowd at the assembly complex, Edet said, “For the sake of peace in this state, we want the removal of the Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo. We have always had peace, and we want that peace to continue.

“We cannot have a police force that will abet the level of illegality that we have witnessed in the House of Assembly. Introducing anything other than peace in Akwa Ibom is alien to our people.

“When there is crisis anywhere and women step in, there is always peace. This is why we have stepped in”, the commissioner for women affairs said.

Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Onofiok Luke, while addressing the women, urged them to continue to pray for peace and not be afraid but to rise at all times to defend the hard-won democracy.

He described the action of the  five APC members of the House as “most scandalous desecration of the state legislature.”

CACOL, CDHR also condemn Assembly invasion

Two civil society groups also condemned the violence in Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.

The Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr Debo Adeniran, described the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly violence as unfortunate and unhealthy for the nation’s democracy.

Adeniran said, “What happened in Akwa Ibom State is not healthy for our democracy and it portends grave danger to our democracy, where brigandage takes the place of order, where law is not countenanced in the effort to change guards in one of the three arms of government in the state.

“With what happened in Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, it is difficult to distinguish between change of guard in motor parks and that of the Assembly. A similar thing happened sometime ago in Rivers State.

“Bad precedents are being laid and are being allowed to go unchallenged because the laws are not applied and impunity is being given those trying to circumvent the course of democracy. It is unfortunate and it is because perpetrators of such shenanigans don’t get punished.”

Also, the National President, Committee for Defence of Human Rights, Mr Malachy Ugwummadu, condemned it.

He said, “I will say this is unfortunate. It is a travesty of democratic practice, to see the kind of brigandage that occurs in our legislative houses, particularly the Houses of Assembly, which is the closest to the people.

“One very big drawback of the Akwa Ibom State experience is the total breach of the constitutional provisions for either the removal of a speaker or a governor. And it didn’t start today; it started as far back as the (ex-President) Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, when they orchestrated all manner of strategies to have their ways against the constitution and against the will of the people.

“The other side is to also condemn the behavior of the governor, who, as it were, physically mobilised law enforcement agents to the House of Assembly complex, in a resort to brigandage.”

State APC chairman urges Buhari to declare state of emergency

But the APC Chairman in Akwa Ibom State, Ini Okopido, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the state and remove Emmanuel.

He said the call became necessary because Emmanuel could not resolve the Assembly crisis which he instigated by pressurising  the Speaker, Onofiok Luke,  to declare seats of five APC lawmakers vacant.

In a statement on Wednesday, Okopido said calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to solve the problem he (Udom) created for himself was “childish and amateurish.”

He stated, “As the leading political party in Akwa Ibom State, we are shocked, embarrassed and petrified by the crisis that has engulfed our state House of Assembly in the last one week; and from all our investigations, we wish to state categorically that Governor Udom Emmanuel is solely responsible for this crisis and so he should bear full responsibility for it.

“Since Udom Emmanuel instigated this crisis by pressuring Mr Onofiok Luke to declare the seats of the APC legislators vacant, both of them should solve the problems. Calling on the President to intervene in the crisis they created is childish and amateurish.

“Should the governor fail to address this problem, we call on the President to declare a state of emergency in Akwa Ibom State and subsequently remove Udom Emmanuel from Office.”

APC’s call, laughable – A’Ibom govt

In his reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor,  Ekerete Udo, said, “The laughable plot to declare a state of emergency in Akwa Ibom by the APC has been the sole motivating factor for violence and the charade it is currently pushing in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.

“Thank God the good people of Akwa Ibom State have seen through their machinations and they have failed miserably. Governor Udom Emmanuel stated this forcefully and persuasively in his world press conference on Tuesday that the APC deployed federal might in the state to rig the election.

“This evil plot will not succeed as our people are ready to defend our hard-fought democracy. Akwa Ibom State is peaceful and it is ludicrous and laughable for the APC to talk about the state of emergency.”

CP denies alleged police complicity

On his part, the commissioner of police said the Akwa Ibom State Command, under his watch would continue to maintain neutrality in the conduct of its affairs in the state.

He said the police were apolitical and would remain so in their dealings with the people and government of Akwa Ibom State.

Speaking on Wednesday in Uyo while reacting to allegations by the governor that he supervised the illegalities in the assembly, the commissioner said his duty was to sustain the existing peace in the state.

The commissioner regretted that most politicians in the country had yet to learn how to play politics of peace. He called on them to always promote the interest of the people.

He stated, “The House of Assembly has their own policemen deployed on the premises, but in the case of any suspected threat to lives and property we also deploy our own men, at least 500 metres from the premises, and that was what we did.

“We were particular about preventing hoodlums from infiltrating the House of Assembly premises. I am not happy with the current happenings at the Assembly and I am hereby calling on all parties to work towards peace in the state.”

The commissioner also debunked allegations of aiding lawmakers, whose seats were declared vacant by Luke to access the assembly and advised the parties to use legal means to resolve the matter.