In an apparent move to stop the ‘rebel’ 27 state lawmakers to have access to the State House of Assembly complex, the state government on Wednesday commenced the demolition of the multi-billion Naira assembly complex.
The lawmakers had Monday moved from the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on which they were elected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. They are believed to be loyalists of the immediate former governor, Nyesom Wike.
The video of the demolition process is already trending on the internet (see below), amid shock that the complex is being pulled down as a collateral damage after billions were spent to put it up.
The proxy war between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, is being fingered for the ongoing process, though the state government action is being justified by its supporters, who say he is doing it to rebuild it after it was gutted by fire weeks ago.
However, many claim, without concrete evidence, that it was set on fire in the first place by unknown supporters of the governor, who did not want the assemblymen to meet to effect his impeachment by pro-Wike lawmakers.
Recall that when the governor went to visit the burnt chamber a day after it was set on fire, he and his entourage, including security operatives, were teargassed and water cannons fired at them. The Police Headquarters in Abuja, days after, immediately effected the removal of the Police Commissioner there.
Just on Tuesday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) threatened to drag a Rivers High Court judge to the National Judicial Council (NJC) following the court’s ruling in Port Harcourt that restrained the 27-member Martins Amaewhule-led group of the Rivers State Assembly from forcefully gaining access into the assembly complex, pending the hearing of the suit before it.
Reports say the Assembly and the Speaker, Edison Ehie, went to court seeking an exparte order preventing Amaewhule and his group from forcefully gaining access into the Assembly complex.
Tony Okocha, the Rivers State chairman of the APC threatened to report the judge, while maintaining that the judge’s ruling is unacceptable to the party.
