AS the political crisis in Rivers State deepens, Governor Rotimi Amaechi on Wednesday accused the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, of being a member of the Peoples Democratic Party.
“The Commissioner of Police is completely not a policeman. He (Mbu) is a known PDP politician who attends meetings with them and carries out illegal actions,” the governor said shortly after signing the 2014 Appropriation Bill into law.
He acknowledged the state lawmakers’ determination to carry on with their legislative responsibilities “despite attempts by enemies of the state to forestall their progress.”
Amaechi said, “The initial plan of those led by our so-called ‘Abuja brothers’ and the Commissioner of Police is to stop you (lawmakers) from dealing with legislative functions.
“I hear that one of them is telling people that he has been able to stop the House from sitting, he has been able to stop the judiciary from functioning. The truth of the matter is that none of such things could happen other than the fact that they are using the state apparatus, which is the police.
“But yesterday, you were able to assert that democracy is about people and that when you talk about democracy, it begins with the legislative arm of government for the reason that you represent each unit of our people and you actually go down to the people.”
Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly had on Tuesday sat in the Government House, Port Harcourt, and passed the Appropriation Bill into law.
Before presenting the 2014 appropriation bill for the governor’s assent, the leader of the assembly, Mr. Chidi Lloyd, said the lawmakers were impressed with the current achievements of the Amaechi administration.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has condemned the actions of the state governor and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Leyii Kwanee.
The PDP, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to its chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, said by the presentation and passage of the appropriation bill into law, the rule of law had been slaughtered on the altar of impunity.
“PDP condemns the actions of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Leyii Kwane who had at several fora denied preparation to sit and pass the bill into law, even in the morning of Tuesday, January 7, 2014.”