A-Ibom women protest, demand removal of CP
By Mod -[ Update Vanguard ]
lGovt obtains court injunction retraining Police from House
lGov, ill-advised, says APC
lWe’re only doing our job —Police
lAPC abusing federal might —PDP
By Henry Umoru, Harris-Okon Emmanuel & Chioma Onuegbu
UYO—THOUSANDS of Akwa-Ibom women, yesterday, protested in Uyo over the invasion of the State House of Assembly by the five sacked lawmakers, demanding the immediate sack of the state Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo.
Udom Emmanuel Governor Akwa Ibom State
Police arraign woman for allegedly stealing boyfriend’s N300,000
This came as a High Court in Uyo granted an order of interim injunction restraining one of the sacked five lawmakers, Mr. Nse Ntuen from parading himself as the Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly pending the determination of the motion on notice filed by Ekemini Udim, Counsel to Speaker Onofiok Luke.
Ntuen, who was beaten during the invasion of the complex, Tuesday, was said to be receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
In a related development, the Senate mandated its committee on Police Affairs to investigate the incident and present its report within 48 hours.
However, the protesters, who were led by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Dr. Glory Edet, State Women Leader of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mrs Mmeme Akpabio, and a former Minister of Housing, Dr. Akon Eyakenyi, stormed the Assembly Complex at 9am to condemn what they described as “intimidation by the Federal Government.”
The women groups were drawn from the 31 local government areas of the state.
Edet, who addressed newsmen, said: “For the sake of peace in this state, we want the removal of Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo from our state. We have always had peace, and we want that peace to continue. We cannot have a police force that will abet the level of illegality that we have witnessed in the House of Assembly. Introducing anything other than peace in Akwa Ibom is alien to our people. When there is crisis anywhere and women step in, there is always peace. This is why we have stepped in.’’
The Speaker of the state House, while addressing the women, urged them to continue to pray for peace and to not be afraid to rise to defend democracy.
We’re only doing our job —Police
However, the state police boss dismissed the allegations of partisanship, saying policemen were only positioned at the Assembly Complex to maintain law and order.
Kimo, who spoke to newsmen in his office at the state command headquarters Ikot Akpan Abia, said: “Whenever there is information about impending threat or crisis, we will deploy our men 500 meters away from there so that in the event of such, we will be able to forestall and checkmate such crime.
“We are not partisan. We have policemen in the state House of Assembly. We just have to ensure that honourable members go about their businesses without molestation, without intimidation, and without hindrance. And how can we be able to do that,? We cannot succeed in doing that from the comfort of our offices. We have to be on the field to ensure that suspected hoodlums do not find their way into the House. That was what we did yesterday (Tuesday), to ensure that hoodlums did not find their way there and perpetrate evil.
Gov’s action, embarrassing—APC
Reacting to the latest crisis, the state Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Ini Okopido, berated the governor for allegedly ‘’leading a gang of thugs and military men to attack the State House of Assembly in an attempt to impose his will on the house.”
He said:‘’The attempt by the Governor to disrupt proceedings in the House failed and the Assembly sat in plenary where the lawmakers under the leadership of the new Speaker, Rt.Hon. Nse Ntuen, carried out their normal business of the day.”
Govt gets court injuction against police
Meanwhile, the state government has obtained an injunction from a Federal High Court sitting in Uyo restraining the Police from further barricading the Assembly thereby impeding access.
Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Uwemdimoh Nwoko, stated this while responding to inquiries on a Planet FM programme,”The Parliament,” on Wednesday.
He said: ‘’The IGP has no power to direct a siege and ordered the CP to go with policemen and politicians to attempt to paralyze the Governor of the state. It was a coup. We went to the Federal Court to stop the Police from taking possession of the Assembly and the court granted the prayer and restrained the IGP from further laying a siege and further preventing the people from entering the Assembly Complex.’’
Senate probes incident
On its part, the Senate gave the Committee on Police Affairs 48 hours to submit its report for consideration, stressing that the investigation became imperative to enable the upper chamber to appreciate the true picture of what actually transpired at the Assembly Complex last Tuesday.
The resolution to probe the incident followed the report of the alleged invasion presented to the Senate by Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, PDP, Akwa Ibom North East
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said: “We were all here when this chamber was invaded. We cannot tolerate the invasion of the hallowed chamber of any legislative house. It is completely unacceptable. The Police Affairs committee should find out what happened and report back to the Senate within 48 hours.”
APC abusing federal might —PDP
Reacting to the development, the chairman of the state chapter of the PDP, Obong Paul Ekpo in a statement yesterday, said: “The APC and her chieftains have always boasted of their total reliance on federal might, which they see as their only highway to power. Having found Akwa Ibom as a very peaceful state and with no tangible reason for increased deployment of security forces to the state, the APC and their conspirators (both indigenous and exogenous) had mapped out plans to instigate crisis in different areas of the state. This plan is not new to us, as we are aware of every step of their plans and will continue to alert the public.”
Source:
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/11/a-ibom-women-protest-demand-removal-of-cp/
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