BY GBENGA OKE
L-R
Chief Bisi Akande, Interim National chairman, APC; Governor Rotimi
Amaechi of Rivers State and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu former governor of Lagos
State/APC Leader all acknowledging cheers from supporters Tuesday at
the Rivers State Government house during a visit of the APC Leadership
to Rivers State. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke
Hon. Dakuku
Peterside (APC, Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro Federal Constituency, Rivers State)
is Chairman House Committee on Petroleum, Downstream. In this interview
with Vanguard, he spoke on the crisis rocking Rivers state, directive of
APC leaders on government shutdown and the need for state police among
others. Excerpts:
ON APC leaders’ directive to APC legislators to shut down government
The directive was given to stop the lawlessness in the country
particularly in Rivers State. It is the right step in the right
direction because this act of impunity must stop, it is not part of
democratic culture. I fully support it and will join others to comply
with the directive. The height of patriotism is to respect the law under
which we are elected. If you don’t respect the law which is the
foundation of a democratic society, then there is no basis for democracy
itself. APC cannot appear to be helpless in the face of impunity.
On the crises ravaging Rivers State
The crises that have engulfed Rivers in recent times are condemnable and it should be condemned by all men of goodwill.
You need to understand the background to appreciate what the situation
is. First, this Save Rivers Movement (SRM) is a non-governmental
organisation.
Yes, police claimed they are sympathetic to APC, the
group decided to convene a peaceful rally and notified the police seven
days ahead but unfortunately on that day, police cordoned off the area
when the people had gathered and started shooting tear gas at innocent
and helpless citizens that are without arms.
At the end, Senator
Magnus Abe was shot and several others were wounded. We must condemn
that; the implication is that there is an affront on our constitutional
drive, freedom of association, freedom of movement and freedom to carry
out our legitimate political choices. This is an affront on those rights
which are constitutionally guaranteed by the 1999 constitution, nothing
in that constitution gave the police powers to deal with the public the
way they so dealt with the group.
Nigerians must rise up to
defend their rights, if they don’t, then these people will continue to
trample on their rights especially the police. The police that are
supposed to be the enforcer of our laws are now the principal law
breaker, they are now the ones acting as if they are the laws to the
land.
The second dimension is the fact that this has shown that
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is intolerant of the opposition or
alternative choices.
That again must be condemned because democracy
is about people having choices, democracy is about the views of the
majority while the minority must be able to express themselves as well.
The PDP controls the police and they are extremely intolerant of the opposition.
Finally, it is obvious that Rivers State has become a test case of what
will likely happen in the days ahead especially the 2015 elections. The
government at the centre is becoming more repressive, they are showing
that they don’t respect the rules of engagement and if Nigerians do not
stand up to defend their rights, then their votes will not count in the
2015 elections.
It is clear that the PDP will use the police to
suppress Nigerians but I know that Nigerians are irrepressible, nobody
can rig elections.
There are divergent views as to whether Sen Magnus Abe was actually shot or not. What do you have to say to that?
I was not actually on ground in Rivers as at the time of this
development but I contacted a lot of people present when the development
happened and they confirmed to me that police shot tear gas and rubber
bullets and Senator Abe was rushed to Krisany Medical hospital in
Port-Harcourt where he got immediate medical attention and I am told the
hospital authorities said he should be flown to London to get better
medical attention and I can confirm he is in London at present.
Given the nature of the Rivers crisis, do you support calls for state police?
I have been an unrepentant supporter of state police and I have my
reason for it. I have said it severally that Nigeria is the only place
in the world where unitary police exists.That is unfortunate and that
explains the inefficiency and ineffectiveness in our policing. We need
to understand that policing is by intelligence. Nobody can ignore the
fact that intelligence is key and you can’t gather more intelligence
than those people who are in that area, they know the individuals and
their characters, they will know them better.
The secondary thing
is the argument that it is subject to abuse, that again for me does not
add up. Are you saying the current police controlled by the Federal
Government is not subject to abuse? Anything that is not regulated is
subject to abuse and that is why our position all along has been to put
in place a regulative framework to check the police and policing
institutions.
On the clash on interest between old and new members in the APC
APC in Rivers state is one big family that accommodates members of
defunct new PDP, defunct CPC, ACN, ANPP and several other parties who
believe in the progressive ideology, that human nature needs to make
progress and we can’t make progress if we rise on pre conceived notion,
our ideas must be dynamic.
Views of the majority
We can’t make
progress if we are not driven by the people, we can’t make progress
where the interest of the few will reign over the interest of the
majority. We cannot make progress unless the views of the majority is
accommodated. What has happened in Rivers State is everybody has a sense
of accommodation and so I don’t foresee any crisis in Rivers APC.
Why didn’t some commissioners, advisers and staunch supporters of Governor Amaechi defect with him to APC?
We have different interest and motives for going into public service.
Some are driven by sincere commitment to serve the people, others are
driven by their personal interest. So all these factors determine the
choices we make. The resignation we have had in Rivers, you need to
look at the individuals who resigned and the reasons for their
resignation, some may be well intended and some may be because they lack
the moral courage to defend the good of their people.
There are
different reasons why we have this resignations but none has said the
government of Governor Rotimi Amaechi has not performed or his
government is not working for the interest of Rivers people.
Nobody
has said that. Some have said for personal reasons while some said they
are not comfortable with APC, they prefer to stay back in PDP.
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