Commendation rather than condemnation should be given to the National Assembly for taking over the legislative functions of its House of Assembly by all parties in the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State.
This was the position of the Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Worgu Boms.
Boms made his position known in a detailed statement on what he witnessed on July 9, 2013 when he was in the company of the Deputy Governor of the state, who went to the House of Assembly to present a Budget Variation to the House on behalf of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Boms said: “I am in agreement with the take over and I congratulate the National Assembly for the courage in taking
the decision, painful as it is.”
Describing the disturbances of that day as “predetermined”, Boms added: “I had stated several times that the disturbances are contrived. In other words, they were planned in advance, they were invented, and not genuine, all to achieve a predetermined end and that is why the planners and their sponsors do not want any genuine approach to resolving it as such genuine resolution will not hit their target of removing the Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi at all cost and by any means….”
Defending the Honourable Justice B.A. Georgewill Judicial Commission of Enquiry set up by the state government on the crisis, the Justice Commissioner cited the Supreme Court decision in Fawehinmi and 2 Ors against Babangida and 3 Ors, adding that the steps taken by the government was also in line with the Rivers State’s Commission of Enquiry Law, Cap 30, Laws of Rivers State.
Boms alleged further that because the sponsors of the disturbances were not interested in the resolution of the crises, they had headed to the court to stop the commission from sitting, litigated against the Senate and House of Representatives from intervening in the matter.
He said further: “This is why I did not and do not agree with those who reason that the National Assembly, like the Nigeria Police in Rivers State should do nothing until someone dies or the governor is illegally removed or a State of Emergency is declared.
“To the contrary, the National Assembly should receive fulsome commendation from all, regardless of which side of the contrived divide we stand.”
He concluded in his statement titled: ‘The Contrived Rivers State Political Crisis and the Take Over of its Legislative House by the National Assembly’, by commending the “House of Representatives and the Senate and indeed, all the well meaning Nigerians who saw the plot and rose against it. I urge them to celebrate the intervention for, through it, countless lives have been saved. By this, the National Assembly has proved, beyond doubt, that the primary responsibility of governments is the preservation of lives and property.”
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