By Danielle Lobito
Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila
The Senate has agreed with the decision of the House of Representatives that the National Assembly should take over the Rivers House of Assembly functions until the current crisis is resolved in accordance with Section 11 (4) of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the House minority leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has called for amendment of the constitution to remove the proviso that the president can redirect an order given by a state governor to the police commissioner in his state in order to control a situation like this.
He said “What happened in Rivers State is a democratic coup and we should treat it as such. Section 305 deals with executive state of emergency
And 11(4) deals with legislative state of emergency. Section 215 (4) reads that the governor may give directives to the state police commissioner”…”I suggest that the proviso that says the President can redirect the Police Commissioner against the directive of the state governor from the Constitution be removed”
—Leadership Newspaper
In the last blog post, we said that the Rivers State Commissioner of Police Joseph Mbu was 'widely believed' to be 'controlled from the Presidential Villa'. Today, we agree with lawyer Gbajabiamila on amending Section 215 (4) of the 1999 Constitution. We also think that Section 215 (4) of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) should be abolished or amended unless we want to risk what happened in Rivers State to happen in other states.
The extensive ‘danger’ of Section 215 (4) means that all Commissioners of Police can be controlled by the President therefore the problem the House of Representatives and the Inspector General of police are trying to solve can erupt again or continuously. At the same time, Commissioners of Police can use Section 215 (4) as an excuse to be one sided in political crisis, like that of Rivers State.
The Governors who are democratic out of 36 Governors should analyse section 215 (4) and not wait for a crisis to engulf their states. They should get the House of Assembly lawmakers in their states to lobby for the amendment of section 215 (4) without delay.
Rivers Crisis: Findings,Observations of Senate Committee
Senate approves takeover of Rivers Assembly -Says Mbu must go
Also Senate, by a unanimous resolution, agreed with recommendations of the Committee, that the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, should be redeployed by the Inspector General,IG, of Police, Mohammed Abubakar.
—Daily Trust
The relationship between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Rivers State Commissioner of Police Joseph Mbu broke down beyond reconciliation due to interference from the presidency. Five anti-Amaechi legislators out of 32, Evans Bapakaye Bipi, Kelechi Nwogu, Michael Chinda, Martin Amaewhule and Victor Ihunwo tried to impeach the Speaker of Rivers State house of Assembly Otelemaba Dan Amachree on July 9.
The foiled impeachment process led to a fracas and the police refused to intervene or restore order. Governor Amaechi has asked a Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt to stop impeachment proceedings against him. The House of Representatives minority leader Femi Gbajabiamila said the five legislators should be tried for treasonable felony and that the impeachment saga was like a democratic coup.
Senate wants Rivers ‘political police boss’ kicked out
Senate orders redeployment of Rivers State Police Commissioner
Rivers Crisis: House Of Representatives Takes Over Functions Of Rivers Assembly
Amaechi goes to court over alleged impeachment plot
Kayode Ogundamisi with Governor Rotimi Amaechi
Governor Rotimi Amaechi appeared on a new political programme titled POLItricks (BEN TV – Sky Channel 182) on the 24th of July. He was interviewed by activist and POLItricks presenter Kayode Ogundamisi. As a matter of fact, Amaechi is the first governor to appear on POLItricks.
Amaechi answered questions from phone callers and social media users. He refrained from most questions on Mrs Patience Jonathan and the junior Education Minister Nyesom Wike. On a question that made a comparison between his wife and Mrs Jonathan, he said that Mrs Jonathan should not be compared to his wife since Mrs Jonathan is slightly ‘higher’ than his wife as the wife of a President.
On the recent fight which occurred in the Rivers State of Assembly on the 9th of July, he said he went to rescue his supporters with his security officers because the police refused to intervene. The Rivers State Police Commissioner compromised and supported his opponents in the brawl. He further explained that one of his security officers had to defend him otherwise he would have been attacked.
Ghanaian Reverend Eastwood Anaba is probably the best Pastor on Envy and Jealousy matters. Anaba has been through a lot and understands why some people suffer from the spirit of Envy. According to Anaba envious people are normally aggressive and the spirit of envy is an evil spirit. He is the author of Overcoming the Spirit of Envy. A lot of Pastors respect Anaba for his expertise…
A long time ago, a woman said that her senior sister told her something like, 'I thought you would ask me to return the necklace that I took from you. I waited for almost two years. If you had asked for it back, I doubt if you would be here today'. The woman was deeply shocked and thought that her sister would have placed a curse on the necklace before handing it back to her. Mysteriously, she could have died from throat cancer etc. A seer previously warned her not to request for anything that she lent to someone.
Coincidently, another woman purposely asked her senior sister to borrow her expensive jewellery once a year. She was richer than her senior sister and wanted to give her the false impression that she could not afford real precious stones. She did it in order to appear gullible and submissive while she was actually a secretive person. She knew that her senior sister was a ‘powerhouse’ in African parlance and did not want her senior sister to envy her or bring her down.
Of course, envy may also appear in different ways e.g., friends, employees and neighbours may envy one another. Envy can appear in politics like the travails of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the upcoming 2015 Presidential election in Nigeria. Anaba explained that it is important to identify those that envy you. Why? If you are interested in the topic watch the video above. Moreover, the biblical story of Cain and Abel (1 John 3:12) is an example of how deadly envy could be.
