Posted by This Day Online on
Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieye-seigha, has pleaded with the seven-man investigation panel set up by the state Chief Judge, Justice Emmanuel Igoniwari, to probe a nine-point allegation of gross misconduct leveled against him by the state House of Assembly, to be fair to him.
* Bus laden with explosives intercepted in Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieye-seigha, has pleaded with the seven-man investigation panel set up by the state Chief Judge, Justice Emmanuel Igoniwari, to probe a nine-point allegation of gross misconduct leveled against him by the state House of Assembly, to be fair to him.
'The least that is expected of them [the panel members] in discharging this onerous assignment, therefore, is for them to align their investigations and ultimately their recommendation to the ideals of fairness, equity and justice," the governor said in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Preye Wariowei, in Yenagoa yesterday.
The governor who said he acknowledged the arduous task the chief judge might have faced in appointing members of the panel, expressed his reservation about their character, adding that he was yet to scrutinise their recent affiliations, alliances and interests.
Despite his reservation, Alamieyeseigha, however, hoped that 'as sons and daughters who might be presumed to have the ultimate good of the land and people of Bayelsa at heart," the panelists would conduct their assignment with the greatest interest of the state in mind.
Professing his innocence, he asked the panel to note that despite all the 'hues and cries", the allegations against him in the media remained unproven, saying that he had not been charged with any offence before any court of law.
He insisted that a court of competent jurisdiction was yet to make a pronouncement upon what he called 'the elaborate allegations that have been fed to the Nigerian media by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Federal Government".
Alamieyeseigha, therefore, called on the people not to surrender the state and its national and democratic endowments to the dictates of persons he called external predators.
He noted that the closure of the state radio station, Glory FM, was a clear and undisguised attempt to appropriate the corporate will of the people and compel them to accept an undemocratic culture.
The panel, which has Mr. Serena-Dokubo Spiff as chairman was inaugurated Monday in the state capital, Yenagoa. Other members, who started work yesterday, are the immediate past Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Benson Agadaga, the National President of the National Council of Women Society (NCWS), Dr. Bolere Ketebu-Nwokafor, Col. Rufus Apulu (rtd), the Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Yenagoa, Mr. Collins Boleigha, Wing Commander Gladys Brisibe (rtd.) and Lady Mercy Alagoa.
But as the panel moved into action yesterday, the intrigues and drama that had characterised the impeachment process got another twist as Hon. Dudafa Waripamowei, one of the legislators supporting Alamieyes-eigha, withdrew his support, denying that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) forced him to sign the impeachment notice.
Waripamo-Owei and eight other lawmakers, including the immediate past Speaker of the House, Hon. Boyelayefa Debekeme, had in a press conference in Yenagoa, two weeks ago, claimed that they were coerced by top officials of the EFCC at its office in Lagos to sign an already prepared impeachment notice against the governor.
In a chat with THISDAY yesterday in Yenagoa, Waripam-owei who represents Koloku-ma/Opokuma Constituency II in the assembly said his presence at the press conference was orchestrated by a clique that persuaded him to make the allegation against the EFCC.
'The truth is that the purported press briefing in Yenagoa was the handiwork of a clique that made me to believe that it would relieve the Governor of Bayelsa State in order to pave the way for dialogue aimed at resolving the current impasse.
'I was very surprised therefore, when at the commencement of the press briefing another script entirely was read out by the leader of the House, Hon. Stephen Erebo. An attempt to protest saw me in Amassoma where I was held until my release a few days ago," he claimed.
He said he had sent a letter of apology, dated December 5, to his colleagues through the Speaker of the House, Hon Perembowei Ebebi.
Meanwhile, a bus laden with explosives and other weapons of mass destruction was intercepted at Yenagoa yesterday by the men of the Nigerian Armed Forces under the aegis of the joint military task force in the Niger Delta, Operation Restore Hope, while sneaking into the town.
The army also arrested a riot police sergeant who escorted the bus that conveyed the weapon.
Confirming the arrest, the commander of the joint military task force, Brig. Gen. Elias Zamani, said that the bus was intercepted as it entered Yenagoa with the police escort clearing the way for it without undergoing routine checks by soldiers.
The bus and its occupants had met a brick wall at a check-point where all entreaties by the policeman to persuade the soldiers to pass it fell on deaf ears, as a check on the vehicle revealed the deadly cargo.
The occupants of the vehicle, including the policeman and the driver were promptly arrested for interrogation at the task force's headquarters in Warri.
Zamani, who refused to disclose the number of those arrested and the identity of the owner of the cargo, however, said they were undergoing interrogation.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Navy condoned off all entrance into the waterways from Delta State to all towns in Bayelsa State following security reports that some youths might use the waterways to launch an attack against the troubled state.
The Commanding Officer of Warri Naval Base, NNS Delta, Captain Mufatau Ajibade, had sent a warning to traditional rulers, communities' leaders and youths coordinators in the state that the Navy would deal with anyone caught disrupting the peace of the region.