Lawmakers were divided at a plenary session of Tuesday, 13 February 2018 over an alleged grant of amnesty by Governor Rochas Okorocha to Persons who had been declared wanted by the Rivers State Security Council. This was sequel to a motion by Hon. Betty Apiafi (PDP: Rivers) who drew attention to the recent grant of Amnesty by the Imo State Governor to persons who had been declared wanted by River’s state apex security council consisting of the State Governor, Commissioner of Police, Heads of Army, Navy, Air Force and its Security and Civil Defence Corps.

Presenting the motion,Hon. Betty Apiafi (PDP: Rivers) briefed the House that deadly attacks were carried out by a notorious Don Wanny (now deceased) led criminal gang in Omoku Town, Rivers State leading to the death of about twenty three (23) innocent citizens who were returning home from a cross over night service on 1^st January 2018. She noted that the attack had prompted the Rivers State Government and its State Security Council to act on the basis of a security report on 8^th January, 2018 to declare thirty (30) persons suspected to be part of the said criminal gang as wanted and place a N20 million ransom on each member of the gang. Hon. Apiafi criticised Governor Okorocha for acting in concert with some ‘highly placed’ politicians to protect persons who have been declared ‘wanted’ and accused him of acting in bad faith. She alluded that the action of the Governor was part of a wider plan to re-integrate and arm these ‘criminal elements’ into society ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Hon. Apiafi went further to say that the primary purpose of government at all levels was to provide security and welfare of the people as provided for in Section 14(2)(b) CFRN, 1999, and that an Inter-governmental co-operation such as that provided by the Rivers State Security Council aided in achieving this objective. She emphasized that those declared wanted by the Security Agencies were all from Rivers State and spread across twelve out of the twenty three (23) local Government Areas of the State. Therefore, it was strange and unexplainable that a State Governor within the Federation of Nigeria could purportedly grant amnesty to persons who were on the ‘wanted list’ of the Security Council of a sister State.

In addition, she expressed concern that the actions of Governor Okorocha was capable of affecting the cordial relationship between Rivers and Imo States, who had lived and maintained peaceful co-existence for many years. She was wary that the Governor’s actions could lead to serious tension in other parts of the Niger Delta region and have implications for the rest of the country. She warned that if the action of the Imo State Governor and the activities of ‘highly placed’ persons and politicians acting in concert with him were are not checked, it could plunge Imo and Rivers States and indeed the entire Niger Delta region into another round of avoidable violence and total breakdown of law and order in the long run.

However, Hon. Nnanna Igbokwe (APC: Imo) raised a point of order in response to the motion challenging the House jurisdiction to deliberate on the motion. According to Hon. Igbokwe the matter was within the purview of section 232 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which states that “The Supreme Court shall, to the exclusion of any other court, have original jurisdiction in any dispute between the Federation and a State or between States…” He argued that the motion was questioning an executive action, which was backed by law in Imo State and that the persons that were granted amnesty were citizens of Imo State before calling on the House to stop deliberation on the matter.

Following the debate and Point of Order raised, the Speaker of the House intervened by referring the motion to the Committees on Justice, Ethics and Privileges and National Security and Intelligence to ascertain the facts of the case and report its findings within a week.