I DON'T FEAR DEATH, EMBATTLED RIVERS FACTIONAL SPEAKER DECLARES. (PHOTO).

I don’t fear death, embattled Rivers factional speaker declares

Factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, has said he is ready to die while doing what is right for the interest of the state.

He said some powerful individuals were after him because he is standing with the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and opposing the sinister plot to impeach him.

Ehie stated this in Port Harcourt while briefing newsmen on the alleged invasion of his residence by armed men dressed in police uniforms.

The lawmaker, who represents Ahoada East Constituency 2 in the state legislature, said his wife and two children were still in shock over the attempt by the armed men to gain entrance into his residence.

Ehie stated that the armed men shot indiscriminately, insisting that their mission was to eliminate him and his family.

He said, “Yesterday around 11 pm, I had closed the engagement, I moved upstairs, and we had put the children to bed and I was interacting with my wife when we got alerted by security men attached to me that there was an attempted invasion by men in mufti and some in uniform.

“I quickly got up from the room and came downstairs, and not too long, we started hearing the noise of the attempt by these security men in their Hilux vehicles to forcefully gain entrance into this residence but they were repelled by the security personnel.

“To our greatest surprise, these security operatives, led by one SP Irefeike London and DSP Masarachi ordered their men and started shooting sporadically.

“You can confirm from the neighbours in this vicinity that nobody could sleep last night. But to the glory of God, the security operatives ably resisted them.

“When my domestic staff went upstairs and brought out his phone and started to shout that he was recording them, they fled.

“Till now, my family is in shock. My wife and my two little children are still in shock. It is so painful that people can go to that level. My children cannot go to school; they did not sleep last night because of the shock.”

He said he was aware that the invasion was connected to the political upheavals in the state.

He added, “But there is something about me which maybe their sponsor did not tell them. Everybody who knows me knows that I am dead to fear. I believe that the only thing you can kill is the flesh, but you cannot kill the spirit, nothing scares me.

“All these started after what happened on October 30 when some self-serving lawmakers who were elected to represent their constituencies and ensure dividends of democracy, make laws including oversight functions, attempted in a Macavilian way to impeach a governor elected to represent millions of Rivers People. That is a joke taken too far, for goodness sake.

“And of course, the governor and chief security officer of the state, getting wind of what happened at the Assembly complex, the carnage burning down the Assembly, went there to ascertain the level of damage.

“I went with him in his entourage, and we all saw the humiliation by the police officers led by the DC Operations. We were teargassed in an attempt to intimidate us but we know that every man dies but once.

“And if it is the prize we have to pay for democracy, then let us pay it for the prize for the future of our children.

“And since after that day, because we stood behind the governor to say evil cannot reign over good in Rivers State, I have come under attacks and threats, especially after I was elected Speaker of the 10th Rivers House of Assembly.”

He expressed shock that those who are after him were trying to link him with the murder of the Divisional Police Officer of Ahoada, the late SP Bako Angbanshin.

“It is important to state that the kingdom and area where the killing of SP Bako Angbashim took place is not my constituency.

“I do not represent that consistency, there is another Assembly member representing that constituency and there is a local government chairman who receives security votes,” he declared.

The PUNCH reported that Ehie, who was the Leader of the State House of Assembly, had announced himself as the House Speaker in the wake of the crisis that rocked the state legislature.

About 24 lawmakers had suspended Ehie as House leader, alongside two other members.

Ehie, after announcing himself as the Speaker last month, told newsmen that 26 lawmakers unanimously elected him as the Speaker, even as he announced the suspension of some of his colleagues.