G60 lawmakers task Tinubu on Rivers crisis

A group of opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives known as the G60 on Tuesday called on President Bola Tinubu to direct the Inspector General of Police and DSS to find out who financed the use of explosives at a protest and whether other explosives have been planted in different corners in Rivers state.

The lawmakers warned that the use of dynamite explosives by protesters in Rivers State will end democracy if not stopped now.

Despite calls by the Police on groups to suspend their planned protest over the controversial Local Government tenure elongation crisis in the state, some of the protesters defied the order to stage a protest leading to the death of one person following the detonation of a dynamite explosive in front of Hotel Presidential, Aba Road, around 9.45 am.

Reacting to the development, the G60 lawmakers in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere stated that the use of explosives is an invitation to anarchy which must be averted.

They also called on the police to allow council workers to resume work and channel energy to arrest the bomb-bearing protesters.

He said: “We wish to condemn in strong terms the idea of protesters moving about with explosives.

“The security agencies should use the energy they are using in sealing up Local Government headquarters to actually find out how explosives were moved into Rivers State. These were how Boko Haram and all the security issues we are dealing with in Nigeria started and we shouldn’t allow this. Explosion in a political protest?

“These people are hell-bent on bringing down the state, inflicting bloody harm on innocent citizens. And the police is more interested in sealing local government headquarters even when there’s no legal basis for that.

“President Bola Tinubu owes Nigerians a duty to direct the Inspector General of Police and DSS to find out who financed the use of explosives at a protest and find out whether there are other explosives that have been planted in different corners in Rivers state. If the government doesn’t do this we hold the government responsible if anything leads to the breakdown of law and order in Rivers.

“Government should have arrested those local government chairmen who made an attempt to illegally seal the local government, including those calling for a state of emergency, they may be working as a group.”

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