Police, Amaechi's supporters clash in Rivers
The peace of Rivers State was once again violated as a public rally by supporters of Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi turned violent as policemen disrupted it.
At the meeting organised by the Save Rivers Movement, the police allegedly shot a federal lawmaker representing Rivers South East Senatorial District, Magnus Abe.
The state government, which has condemned the attack, has alleged that the rubber bullets, which struck the senator were originally meant for Amaechi.
Abe who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Down Stream) was billed to represent Amaechi at the rally slated for Rivers State College of Arts and Science, along Rumuola Road, Port Harcourt.
According to The Guardian, An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said that scores of policemen from the Swift Operation Squad (SOS) arrived the venue of the rally at about 7:20 a.m. and interacted cordially with organisers of the event who had earlier written to the police for protection. But shortly afterwards, some anti-riot policemen allegedly from MOPOL 19 arrived the venue and asked everyone to disperse.
The newspaper further reports Abe and the Chief of Staff Government House, Tony Okocha, arrived at the venue that amid the altercation between the organisers and the police.
The senator was said to have properly identified himself. But the policemen who were under strict instruction to disperse everyone ignored him and started shooting teargas canister and rubber bullets sporadically.
About two of the bullets struck the lawmaker on the chest and knocked him down. He was immediately carried by his aides who quickly rushed him to a private hospital in Port Harcourt. Okocha was also injured by the teargas canister that struck his leg.
The police then went ahead to pull down all the canopies erected on the field of the College of Arts and Science and destroyed the communication equipment put in place for the rally. The police also blocked both ends of Rumuola Road and prevented motorists and passersby from accessing the area.
Riot later broke out at Rumuigbo between the police and scores of youths who had gathered to hold the rally. The police fired teargas canister and live bullets sporadically in the air. Some persons were later arrested, among them a former member of the House of Representatives, Ike Chinwo.
The medical director in charge of the Krisany Hospital, where Abe was rushed to, Dr. Mckay Anyanwu, told journalists that the lawmaker was in a state of shock evidenced by low blood pressure. He also disclosed that Abe had suffered from internal bleeding after he was stuck by a rubber bullet.
'The patient (Abe) was brought in a state of a shock, as evidenced by low blood pressure. He was restless and he couldn't communicate or reason coherently. As a first aid, we treated him for traumatic shock, because the implication of his state was that there was severe blood trauma and the amount of layers affected could not be detected immediately. This can only be done through the hemorrhoid tests.'
He added: 'We have administered oxygen treatment on him for resuscitation and primary medication, but we also detected severe internal bleeding and high level hemorrhaging in him. Another bad news is that we also detected that the affected side is showing severe swelling, which led me to the conclusion that he must have been hit by a high calibre weapon and my fears were confirmed when I was told that he was shot with rubber bullets'.
The senator who was said to be a in a critical condition, was later moved to another hospital in an ambulance for specialist treatment.
But the police denied the shooting as the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad, alleged that the organisers of the event did not apply for police permit, and that was why the police had to go there and disperse them.
'They have not applied for police permit to hold a rally, so the police had to disperse them. They were telling lies about the application they said they made,' he said.
But the Chairman of the Save Rivers Movement, Aholu Okechukwu, showed journalists copies of the application for permit to hold the rally written to the state police command on January 7, 2014.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said the disruption of the rally was yet another senseless attack on innocent citizens in a continuous rape of democracy by the Joseph Mbu-led state police command.
She said: 'The unprovoked shooting of Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, the senator representing Rivers South East senatorial district is a cause for worry and an indication of the length that the PDP is willing to go to silence opposing views. The Rivers State government has it on good authority that Senator Abe took the bullet originally meant for Governor Chibuike Amaechi who was billed to be present at the event. This is disconcerting especially in the light of recent revelations that the Presidency may be training snipers ahead of the 2015 elections and that Governor Amaechi is top on the list of those to be eliminated,' she said.
The state government therefore called on the Federal Government and its agencies to respect the rules of democratic engagement in their 'misguided fight' against the people of Rivers and especially save the country from the unnecessary chaos into which 'federal agents like Mbu want to plunge it ahead of the 2015 elections.'
She said the Rivers State government reiterated its call for the re-deployment of Mbu before he turned 'the state into a graveyard because of his intolerance and unprofessional behaviour.'
According to her, the state government believes in the freedom of association and freedom of expression guaranteed to all Nigerians by the constitution and 'wishes to ask the Inspector General of Police, the Chairman, Police Service commission, the Chairman, Nigeria Human Rights Commission and President Goodluck Jonathan, on whose table the buck ends as Commander in Chief, to call Mbu to order and bring an end to the impunity in Rivers, and restore the hope of the people of the state that they have not been marked as enemies and lamb for slaughter in their own country.'
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Dakuku Peterside, said the police in the state had taken impunity to new heights and that all men of goodwill must rise up to defend constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of association and freedom of movement.
He said: 'Mbu has lost every sense of civility and decency and it is now obvious he has learnt nothing from history. Commissioner of Police Mbu has shown by his action that the PDP-controlled Federal Government has zero tolerance for opposition and liberty of Nigerians to make their own choices. Impunity is an integral part of governance for PDP and those at the apex of governance in the nation sees nothing wrong with it as it serves their narrow political interest.'
The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said it was shocked and shattered by the news of the unwarranted shooting. The Interim State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said the action of the police could be likened to a premeditated attempted murder of two prominent and innocent Rivers citizens by the state police command.
Reacting to the development, the national headquarters of the APC asked Jonathan to urgently put an end to the worsening reign of impunity in the state.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the call had become even more imperative, following the 'irresponsible act of brigandage by the police, which stopped a peaceful and lawful rally billed for the Obio Akpor Local Government Area of the state today (yesterday) by the Save Rivers Movement (SRM), an organisation campaigning against the impunity of the PDP-controlled Federal Government against the government and people of Rivers State.
''The police went to the venue of the rally, pulled down the erected canopies and fired tear gas at everyone around there and even into nearby homes, with the result that five children are now feared to have died from suffocation due to this shameful Gestapo-style action of the police, who are being funded by taxpayers to protect the lives and property of the same citizens they are now brutalising and killing.
'Not only that, they injured the Chief of Staff to Governor Chibuike Amaechi and fired a supposed rubber bullet, at point blank range, at Senator Magnus Abe, who is now gravely injured. The senator is believed to have been deliberately targeted for attack by the police.
'We understand that the exceptional brutal clampdown on the planned rally by the police, who seem to have now surpassed even their own act of brutality against the people of the state, was aimed at impressing the First Lady, believed to be due in Port Harcourt on the same day (Sunday).''
The APC said there was no way a commissioner of police in any state would be so bold as to be waging a war against an elected governor and his aides/supporters if he was not empowered to do so by higher authorities, and that 'everyone knows that the impenitent Rivers Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu believes he is now the de facto Governor of Rivers because he has the support of the Presidency to exhibit impudence.
'Mbu, who is going down in Nigeria's history as a classic example of an officer of the law turned the biggest violator of the law, has not only defied the resolutions of the National Assembly, he has also thumbed his nose at the ultimatum issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). He is the Alternate Inspector General of the Police who takes orders only from a conniving Presidency,'' the party said.
It said the only reason the impunity in Rivers could have continued unabated was because it 'is a dress rehearsal for what is being planned for 2015, hence the APC has continued to raise the alarm over the instigated crisis in Rivers.
''Since this reign of impunity started, the Rivers Governor has been barred from accessing his official residence by the police; members of the State House of Assembly have been tear-gassed and harassed endlessly; the plane owned by the state government has been grounded, using the institutions of state; and even a chartered plane bearing the governor has been prevented from takeoff, not minding that the member of the state House of Assembly, which the plane was supposed to be carrying was not on board. No one has apologised for this chutzpah.
''This is all happening under the watch of a President who has been widely quoted as saying his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. The statement now rings hollow, considering what is happening in Rivers and elsewhere, which is widely regarded as a sign of things to come ahead of 2015.
''President Jonathan should act today to bring Rivers State and indeed Nigeria back from the brink of lawlessness. His body language must discourage the likes of Mbu from turning Nigerian into a lawless nation. He must differentiate his position as the leader of the PDP from his perch as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.''
Meanwhile, Senator Magnus Abe has been moved from the Kelsey Harrison Hospital in Port Harcourt to the airport en route London for further medical treatment after he was allegedly tear-gassed and shot by the Rivers state Police command on the orders of the police commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu at a pro-Amaechi rally in Port Harcourt