Rivers Assembly Resumes Sitting At Government House

Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly yesterday resumed plenary at the Government House, Port Harcourt, with 17 lawmakers believed to be loyal to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in attendance.
This is as the House, presided over by the speaker, Rt. Hon. Otelemaba Daniel Amachree, has begun moves to repeal the law establishing the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority.

The lawmakers had during their sitting on January 7, 2014, where they passed the 2014 appropriation bill into law, adopted the Old Banquet Hall, located within the Old Government House complex, as their hallowed chamber, following a motion to that effect by the deputy leader of the House, Hon. Ename Robinson Ewor and seconded by the deputy whip, Hon. Irene Inimgba.

LEADERSHIP FRIDAY observed that yesterday’s sitting was boycotted by the six lawmakers loyal to the supervising minister of education, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, while the speaker of the House, Amachree announced on the floor of the House that five lawmakers, informed him that they would not be able to attend the plenary.

Meanwhile the Rivers State commissioner for information and communication, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, has accused the state’s commissioner of police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, of romancing with elements opposed to the state government.

Semenitari made the allegation while speaking on the Channels Television morning programme, Sunrise Daily, adding that the commissioner of police had restricted his job area to the protection of only members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI).

But efforts to get a reaction from CP Mbu were unsuccessful as his mobile phone number was switched off. The police public relations officer of the command, Ahmed Muhammad (DSP), could not be immediately reached as he had yet to return call put across to him or respond to a text message sent to him by the time of filing this report.

According to her, the people of the state are now left with only divine protection, adding that Mbu has shown that his job description excluded anyone in Rivers State that did not belong to either PDP or GDI.

In another development, legal practitioners in Rivers State, under the aegis of Concerned Lawyers Forum (CLF) yesterday morning staged a peaceful protest over what they described as the refusal of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to appoint a substantive chief judge(CJ) in the state.

But, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in the state, and the Rivers State judiciary distanced themselves from the action of CLF, insisting that embarking on a protest was never a collective decision of legal practitioners in the state.

- Leadership

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