Posted by From John Iwori in Yenagoa, Sheriff Balogun in Lagos and Tunde Sani in Ilorin on
Bayelsa State Government-owned radio station, Radio Bayelsa, yesterday became one of the casualties of the political crisis in the state as troops deployed by the Federal Government to secure the state shut down the station.
Bayelsa State Government-owned radio station, Radio Bayelsa, yesterday became one of the casualties of the political crisis in the state as troops deployed by the Federal Government to secure the state shut down the station.
According to a statement by the Acting Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Preye Wariowei, the station was shut in the early hours of yesterday morning as workers who reported for duty about 5.30 am were turned back by soldiers and riot policemen who had taken over its premises.
Following the closure, the station was off the air throughout yesterday, leaving Bayelsans with the Federal Government-owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) as the only source of broadcast information, a development the state government described as unfortunate.
The state government said the closure of the radio station was a major plank of the offensive against Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who had been slammed an eight-point impeachment notice by the state House of Assembly.
'Evidently, one of the key elements of a coup d'etat, which is information emasculation, has been dastardly executed, and the peoples' fundamental rights of free access to useful information and education, has been denied," the statement said.
Wondering why the station was shut when it had been balanced in its reports of events in the state, the state government said the closure violated the rights of its citizens to information and asked the Federal Government to pull out its troops from the station.
'The Bayelsa State Government views this closure as an assault on press freedom as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The closure of the Bayelsa Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, is a despicable act in furtherance of the attempted civilian coup d'etat," it said.
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from arresting five members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.
Justice Okechukwu Okeke gave the restraining order in a motion ex parte brought by the five legislators, Messrs Nimibofa Ayawei, Dudafa Waripamowei, Amakiri Etebu, Amalanyo Yousuo and Ofoni Williams on Tuesday.
The lawmakers, who were part of the 20 that signed an impeachment notice against Governor Diepreye Alamieye-seigha, but later reneged were Monday suspended indefinitely by the assembly for alleged gross misconduct.
The aggrieved lawmakers had backed out of the impeachment plot against the governor claiming that they were forced by the EFCC to sign the impeachment notice.
Granting the five applicants the order to enforce their fundamental human rights, Okeke fixed December 9, 2005 for hearing of the motion on notice.
In an affidavit in support of their application, the legislators, represented by their counsel, Mr. Ayawei, said they were forced by the EFCC to sign a prepared document titled 'Notice of Impeachment Against Governor Alamieyeseigha." 'Our signatures on the said document, a copy of which is hereby attached, and marked 'Exhibit A" were obtained by force, undue influence, intimidation, harassment and torture by operatives of the respondent (EFCC)," they said.
The lawmakers further claimed that they were offered N25 million each to sign the impeachment document and were ordered to proceed to Abuja to collect the money.
'It was at that stage, that we escaped and returned to the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa, where we have been hiding under fear of further arrest and detention", the legislators averred.
The lawmakers also submitted in their affidavit that they were clamped into a 'filthy, dehumanising cell where we met members of the Taraba State House of Assembly who had been in their gulag, languishing, after we have been thoroughly harassed; intimidated and dehumanised".
In a related development, the Chairman of Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, has said the deployment of troops in Bayelsa is constitutional, explaining that the Federal Government did not require Senate endorsement for deployment of troops for internal operations.
He said events unfolding in the state were matters that the Federal Government could handle, adding that the impeachment process begun by the House of Assembly was within its constitutional power.
Ndoma-Egba, who spoke in Abuja yesterday, said the Senate could not take any position on the situation in the state because it was sensitive, and would not want to prejudice the ongoing process, which he explained was essentially an internal affair of the state.
But a Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, disagreed with Ndoma-Egba, saying there was no justification for the deployment of troops in the state and asked the Federal Government to withdraw them immediately.
In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, the group said President Olusegun Obasanjo's deployment of troops in the state could overheat the polity.
But the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, University of Ilorin, Prof. Hassan Saliu, backed the impeachment process against the Bayelsa governor, saying Alamieyeseigha's conduct of jumping bail in London where he was standing trial for alleged money laundering was unfortunate.
Saliu, a professor of Political Science, who spoke with THISDAY in Ilorin, called on the Federal Government to explore all available diplomatic means of ensuring that Nigerians are not smeared by the action of the governor.
He regretted that a serving governor could jump bail in a foreign land when he knew the implications, and advised political office holders to learn the basics of living within the ambience of their political office. 'It is a sad thing that had happened to Nigeria. An elected governor, who is caught for money laundering, ordinarily should have waited there and solve the problem before returning to the country. On the whole it is not a bad compliment on Nigeria," Saliu said.