Posted by By Emmanuel Aziken & Emeka Mamah on
THE Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Peremobowei Ebebi, wants the Federal Government to retain soldiers deployed to the state especially on account of threats to the lives of legislators bidding to impeach Governor Dipereye Alamieyeseigha.
ABUJA - THE Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Peremobowei Ebebi, wants the Federal Government to retain soldiers deployed to the state especially on account of threats to the lives of legislators bidding to impeach Governor Dipereye Alamieyeseigha.
Receiving a delegation of the Ijaw Youth Council at the Bayesla State Lodge in Abuja yesterday, Mr. Ebebi nevertheless affirmed that GovABUJA - THE Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Peremobowei Ebebi, wants the Federal Government to retain soldiers deployed to the state especially on account of threats to the lives of legislators bidding to impeach Governor Dipereye Alamieyeseigha.
Receiving a delegation of the Ijaw Youth Council at the Bayesla State Lodge in Abuja yesterday, Mr. Ebebi nevertheless affirmed that Governor Alamieyeseigha was not the only governor involved in alleged stealing of state funds. He charged the authorities to bring the others to book.
However, attempt by Gov. Alamieyeseigha to stop his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting in Kaduna yesterday failed as the tribunal ruled that the trial should continue.
Mr. Ebebi asserted the determination of the people of the oil rich state to press ahead with the struggle for resource control which he claimed had been distorted by Gov. Alamieyeseigha. He said the sins of Alamieyeseigha were not enough to distort the quest for resource control as canvassed by the people.
The IYC delegation comprising officials and members from the Central zone (Bayelsa State) were received by the Speaker; his deputy, Mr. Bright Erewari and seven other legislators in the Bayelsa Governor's Lodge which was opened just before Gov. Alamieyeseigha's ill-fated surgical trip abroad.
The group led by its vice-chairman, Mr. Egba Clarius, expressed disappointment that their 'father," Alamieyeseigha, had brought shame to his people as they called for the anti-corruption war to go round the polity. 'The presence of armed soldiers is a welcome development. It is very good because without the soldiers there would have been a calamity. In short, we would have lost our lives. I can categorically state that even as we are sitting down here our lives are in danger. It is God that is protecting us," Mr. Ebebi told the IYC delegation.
Affirming the determination of the House to press ahead with the impeachment process against the governor, he said: 'If he (Alamieyeseigha) wants to die, we are not prepared to die with him, let him die alone. Let the law take its course on him when we have finished with the impeachment procedure. We are here, we are waiting for the report of the seven-man panel." Noting similar actions of suspected misappropriation by other governors and the importance of subjecting all governors to the same treatment given Alamieyeseigha, the Speaker said: 'This situation is not only limited to the Ijaw man or to Bayelsa State because he is the governor of a state in Nigeria. We also know that there are other thieving governors that have not been caught, some have been caught, but the magnitude has not been up to that of Alamieyeseigha.
'The magnitude not withstanding, whoever that is caught should face the music. We are also in tandem with what the IYC central zone has said that the corruption war should not start and end in Bayelsa State.
Alams fails in bid to stop trial
Meanwhile, attempts by the Bayelsa State governor, Chief Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha, to stop his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting in Kaduna yesterday failed as the tribunal ruled that the trial should continue.
The tribunal over-ruled counsel to the governor, Mr Moses Ofeoshi, saying the prosecutionhas fulfilled all processes for the trial to continue.
A member of the tribunal, Prof. Peter Oluyode, who read the ruling said the prosecution had complied with all the processes and asked the defence to move his preliminary objection.
Alamieyeseigha had objected to his trial by the tribunal on ground that the summons was a violation of the principles of section 308 of the 1999 constitution, asking the tribunal to strike out the entire case. He is seeking an order of the tribunal dismissing the summons initiated against him for want of competence and jurisdiction and for being an abuse of court process.
Prosecution counsel, Mr Thompson Olatigbe, had earlier objected to the appearance of counsel to the governor, Mr Ofeoshi and Edafe Emakpor, by arguing that by law, the accused person is supposed to appear in person and not through any counsel.