…Says Anti-Democratic Elements Causing Mayhem, Are Being Egged on by the Police

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the raging Akwa Ibom Assembly crisis to ensure continuous peace in the state. Speaking at a news conference held in the Government Lodge in Uyo on Tuesday after the pandemonium in the House of Assembly, he said that the state would continue to remain peaceful in spite of the siege to the Assembly.

“We are calling on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, please, we are citizens of this country and the President should take necessary action to forestall this because we have seen the sign,” Emmanuel said.

“I want to believe my people will be protected by the constitution and by the law of this country. We stand for peace and we shall ever remain peaceful and law abiding citizens of this country.”

The governor also expressed displeasure over the deployment of the police to the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly and called for the redeployment of the Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo, who assumed duty on November 23^rd from the state.

He said that democracy in the state was being threatened and appealed for support to protect `the hard earned democracy.’

Emmanuel said that the state government had received intelligence report on plans by the sacked lawmakers to take over the House of Assembly, alleging that the plans were being executed and supervised by the police.

He alleged that the same police that he used state resources to equip were fighting the state; adding that several petitions to Buhari and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, about the activities of the Police and the sacked lawmakers had been ignored.

“The court ordered the speaker that those who had defected, their seats should be declared vacant, this is not the first time and it is in line with the rule of law.”

“I want to call on the police force to ensure that the commissioner of police and the Quick Response Squad are withdrawn so that we can maintain peace,” Emmanuel said.

Recently, angry youths and supporters of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state had stormed the assembly complex to protest the sack of a lawmaker, Idongesit Ituen.

Ituen, who represented the Itu State Constituency, was sacked by a federal high court for defecting from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.

In spite of the protest, the Speaker, Onofiok Luke, then declared vacant the seats of four more lawmakers who had also defected from PDP to APC.

The five sacked lawmakers later held their sitting where they purportedly removed the speaker, Luke, and ‘elected’ one of them, Nse Ntuen (Essien Udim State Constituency) as the new speaker. But the majority members later took over the Assembly.

Also, the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr Henry Seriake Dickson, and the Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, have raised the alarm over the increasing abuse of security agencies by the ruling political party, the All Progressives Congress, and the Federal Government.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, quoted Governor Dickson and the Elder Statesman as raising the concern when Pa Clark paid him a condolence visit on the death of his mother, Ma Goldcoast Dickson, in Abuja, at the weekend..

The governor said Nigerians were deeply worried about the conduct of the security agencies across in the country. According to him, the security agencies were disturbingly metamorphosing into an extension of the ruling party, the APC, ahead of the 2019 general election.

Governor Dickson condemned the recent assassination attempt on the Deputy Senate President, Prof. Ike Ekweremadu, and the police invasion of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.

He described the action of the police authorities, who sealed off the House òf Assembly, as an assault on the democratic order, which he said should not be encouraged.

Dickson stated further that the recent posting of eight police commissioners to Bayelsa State within a shockingly short period of three months only showed a sinister plot to destabilize the peace, security and stability of the state ahead of the 2019 general elections.

He called on the relevant authorities and the security agencies to conduct themselves in a way that would promote the nation’s democracy rather than putting it in jeopardy.

“We are all concerned about the conduct of security agencies ahead of the 2019 general elections. In fact, all lovers of Nigeria and democracy are concerned about the conduct of the security agencies.”

“The agencies have become an extension of the ruling party, which should not be. The abuse of the security forces constitutes a threat to the security, democracy and stability of the country.”

“I condemn the recent assassination attempt on the life of the Deputy Senate President, Prof. Ike Ekweremadu. It is totally reprehensible. I also condemn the invasion of the Akwa Ibom State House òf Assembly. It was a desecration of the democratic order.”

“In Bayelsa, we have had no fewer than eight police commissioners in the last three months. It won’t take you long to know that there is a sinister game going on to destabilize and create instability in the state that we have worked so hard to stabilize. We urge the security agencies to conduct themselves in a way that would stabilize democracy.”

“The greatest challenge we have ahead of the 2019 election is the conduct of the security agencies. That is the concern of all well-meaning Nigerians. Politicians and people in government need to know that there is a country to govern after elections.”

“Let us not in the quest for election, destroy these critical agencies of state and the career and reputation of these officials. When you politicize these agencies, you threaten the careers of these people who are professionals in their own right,” Dickson said.

The governor also warned against subjecting control of security agencies to non-state actors in the country.

Meanwhile, the Pan-Niger Delta group, Save Ijaw Nation Group (SING) has expressed its readiness, to embark on a sustained mass protest, in Abuja starting from Friday, November 29th, over what it described as the desperate attempt of some politicians, who are being openly aided by the Nigerian Police Force, to truncate Democracy in Akwa Ibom.

The group, speaking through its Executive Director, Idris Usman, in Abuja, said Nigerians can no longer watch, and allow the rascality of a very insignificant minority of politicians, in Akwa Ibom State, to hijack power from democratically elected legislators and Executive officers in Akwa Ibom State.

He likened the ongoing situation in the state, to a coup, asking why the police will continually exhibit such unbridled manner of partisanship, while aiding five former members of the State House of Assembly, to continually disrupt the legitimate activities of the Assembly, while at the same time, unleashing violence on law abiding workers, within the Assembly, and other innocent citizens of the state.

The group said it planned to picket the Police Headquarters in Abuja, until the police authority, desist from actions, that keeps promoting lawlessness, and seek to undermine the democratic rights of the people of Akwa Ibom state.

The group also said it will be submitting its petitions, to the National Assembly, the National Human Rights Commission, Embassy of the United States and other foreign missions with offices, in the nation’s capital.