Rivers of Crises
Political violence has become the order of
the day in
Rivers
State
. Opponents say Governor Odili
is to blame but the secretary to government says no
By Bideh Williams
The
Rivers
State
government is once
again in the throes of volatile politi-cal crises. The latest is
that of Okrika where properties worth millions of naira, including
the house of Rufus Ada-George, former governor of the state was
burnt.
Before that, on September 12, Tam
David-West, former minister of petroleum, also cried out that
there was an attempt on his life. It was the same for Bekinbo
Soberekon, a frontline PDP politician who has gubernatorial
ambition in
Rivers
State
, come 2003.
In April this year, a similar incident at
Ogu\Bolo, a sister community of Okrika, saw the destruction and
burning of properties including the house of Mina Tende, the
suspended chairman of Ogu/Bolo local government council.
The list of assassinations and attempted
assassinations is growing by the day. So also is communal
violence. Those who spoke to Newswatch
last week in
Port Harcourt
accused Governor Peter Odili of having a hand in all the crises.
The September 21 Okrika crisis was said to
have been triggered off by one Ngeri Rowland, an influential chief
and a staunch supporter of Dagogo Ibulubo as the next heir
apparent to the vacant throne.
In view of the growing tension between his
group and the other contender, Alfred Semenitari Abam, who is said
to belong to one of the recognised royal houses in Okrika, Rowland
and his group organised a town crier who went round the town
“proclaiming and threatening that they will kill all those who
did not support their group.
Abam’s group countered it and proclaimed
their own support in no unequivocal terms. According to Kwani
Oforiokuma, one of the natives, each of the groups controlled
popular security watch groups in the town.
In the ensuing confrontation arising from
the pronouncments by both parties, the “Peace group” under
Rowland sacked the latter’s “Vigilante group” with the most
sophisticated weapons: Guns, matchetes and grenades which were
freely used to destroy properties and valuables.
Godknows Tamuno, chairman, Okrika local
government council, refused to make any comment saying that his
report has been sent to the appropriate authorities for further
action.
At the end of the four-day mayhem, about 40
houses were either completely burnt or destroyed. Among them are
the houses of the former governor, Rufus Ada-George at Ambemebiri,
Okrika; the royal palace
and that of Ngeri Rowland.
But while most of the warlords could afford
to find alternative abode in
Port Harcourt
to lick their wounds, majority of the victims had to run to
Ogbogbo, Ibaka and Ogoloma for refuge. Nearly two weeks after the
crisis, normal life is yet to return since the community is still
without power supply occasioned by the damage done to the cables
and transformers.
Reacting to the violence and in particular,
the Okrika crisis, Ada-George expressed in no mistakeable terms
that: The Odili administration is to blame. “No matter whatever
social or communal colouration the
Rivers
State
government-owned radio and other propaganda machinery may paint,
it wears similar political garb as the one that occurred in April
this year, at Ogu, in Ogu/Bolo local government area. It is
apparent that all these political overheat and flash-points in
these my two immediate constituency local government areas are
planned, induced, sponsored and executed with the connivance and
tacit support of the
Rivers
State
government,” he alleged.
Collaborating Ada-George’s position, Mina
Tende, suspended chairman of Ogu/Bolo local government council,
also faults Odili government’s position that the crisis was
caused by internal chieftaincy wranglings. He also contended that
if the issues involved in Ogu/Bolo, Abua/Odual, Okrika, Ke/Bille,
Eleme, Egi areas concern chieftaincy, why the burning of
properties belonging to elders of APP and PDP members opposed to
Odili. As far as he is concerned, the whole “chieftaincy
thing” is a ruse designed to destabilise
APP stronghold communities such as Ogu/Bolo.
But if these accusations and counter
accusations of Ada-George and Tende were merely expressions “to
seek political relevance,” the pronouncements of Bekinbo
Soberekon, a PDP stalwart and one who has been largely reported to
have gubernatorial ambition for 2003, is to say the least, quite
danming. He accused Governor Odili of using his power of
incumbency to intimidate the whole of
Rivers
State
into accepting his “unpopular government” to run a second
term: “Odili is causing fracas in different parts of the state
that is perceived to be a big threat to his second term in office.
Cases abound in Okrika, Ogu/Bolo and Abua/Odual,” three
prominent communities that are controlled by APP.
At Okrika, Ogu/Bolo and Abua/Odual, the
presence of the Swift
Operation Squad, SOS, is fully on ground to maintain peace and
order, Newswatch
observed. The seeming peace exercise notwithstanding, Soberekon
sees the SOS as “Odili’s personal squad to foment trouble and
cause mayhem. They are Odili’s private army.”
Giving vent to some of the allegations made
by Soberekon, Jene Braide, spokesman for Kalabari council of
chiefs said, the government of Odili has manipulated and
influenced the press so much that opposing views are seldom heard.
“Worse still is the fact that the state-owned media (both print
and electronic) have perfected bottlenecks that make it impossible
for critics to be heard.” This is, in Braide’s view, one of
the reasons for the proliferation of community papers all over the
state.
He maintains that what the Odili
administration has succeeded in doing since he assumed office is
to make “terrorists” out of unemployed youths who truly need
gainful employment: “If you can help the youths with meaningful
occupation than to teach them how to shoot guns, wield matchetes
and throw grenades, they will get at you one day. And the place
will be unbearable even for the man who sponsors them.”
Soberekon said.
Soberekon has also experienced
assassination attempts on his life because of his opposing stand
with the Odili government. In one of his press briefings,
Soberekon said he was attacked by a gang of armed men during the
Abonnema wharf raid. He was within the area attending to some of
his businesses when he was “attacked and shot five times in the
chest.” He told Newswatch that
he survived miraculously. His car was taken away from him despite
the presence of SOS men all over the place. Till date, nothing has
been heard about the missing car nor the gang that attacked him.
For him, the Abonnema wharf raid was a deliberate plan to
eliminate him.
David-West’s recent experience in the
hands of Melford Goodhead, aka Alhaji Asari Dokubo, leader of the
“renegade” Ijaw youth council, is even more indicting of the
state government.
In his 12-page statement made available to
the criminal investigation department at the state police
headquarters, Port Harcourt, David-West stated that an armed gang
numbering about 60 and led by Dokubo attempted to assassinate him
on September 12, at the Rivers State government guest house,
Forces Avenue, Port Harcourt.
He gave a vivid description of how the gang
invaded the guest house while chanting “Professor
David-West ... we will kill you, we will roast you in the full
view and hearing of the staff and some other guests.” In
desperation, he called for help from the state police command.
Help came but he was at a loss how the police team that came for
his rescue could so fraternise openly with Dokubo. The report also
states how the “gangster leader brags that he has an office
space at the office of the SOS.”
Against this backdrop, and given his
special relationship with the state governor, David-West wrote a
formal letter to the latter and “graphically chronicled the
invasion of the government guest house, the assault of staff and
the threat to my life.” According to him, “up till today,
October 4, the governor has not cared to sympathise with me on the
terrible threat to my life. Not a word. Not a single word.
Most of the people Newswatch
spoke to are singing the same song that Odili’s government is
terrorising the state to hold on to power at all cost. In his
desperation to hold on to power, Odili is alleged to have done
little or nothing to improve the lives of the Rivers man despite
his claim to series of development projects carried out in the
state.
But Abiye Sekibo, secretary to the state
government denied government’s involvement in all the crises in
Rivers State.
According to him, the amayanabo
problem in Okrika is an issue that goes as far back as the
60s. He said it was an inherited problem which the government has
tried to solve with all sincerity of purpose: “As a responsible
government, it has done all it could within its power to settle
whatever differences that exist among the various factions of the
Ado Royal house.”
Mike Chukwuma, assistant superintendent of
police and spokesman for the police, said the police command in
the state has been up and doing. “We need commendation,” he
said.
Chukwuma explained that not less than 12
persons have been indicted in the recent Okrika crisis and six
persons have been nabbed for further prosecution.
He also said that Abonnema wharf
“a notorious criminal hide-out,” was raided and
produced six suspects who are awaiting trial, while innocent
victims were released promptly the following day.
Dokubo, in the eyes of the police is a
citizen of Nigeria. According to Chukwuma, Dokubo has the right
like any other Nigerian, to freedom of association, expression and
other such fundamental human rights. “But if we find any reason
to check his excesses, the police would certainly not hesitate to
arrest him. The law requires that a locus
standi case must be proved against any accused before we take
definite measures. In matters of hear-say, we could covertly
monitor the person’s activities and take the necessary step
where needed,” he said.
Newswatch Volume 34 No 16, October 22, 2001
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