BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

PORT HARCOURT—As the Police in Rivers State carry out a security sweep on the state House of Assembly Complex ahead of lawmakers’ resumed sitting, the state government has been urged to ensure spiritual cleansing of the House before it was reopened for legislative duties.

Former Alliance for Democracy, AD, governorship candidate in the state, Adonye Omubo-Pepple, who made the call in a chat with Vanguard in  Port Harcourt, said it was a necessary measure to prevent a repeat of last July’s bloody fracas, which led to the shutdown of the state legislative arm.

He said: “There is always the physical and spiritual tone to human act. It is okay if the police thought it wise to engage bomb detectors and dogs to do a security combing of the Rivers Assembly Complex while also forcing  the lawmakers to sign undertaking before reconvening in the light of what happened in the House before, but these measures alone will not guarantee peaceful resumption.

“We are talking about a House where the lawmakers defiled their honour and spilled blood to desecrate the walls of the hallowed chambers. The state government, particularly the lawmakers,  need to engaged men of God to do a spiritual cleansing of that House if we expect the reconvened House to be peaceful and in the interest of Rivers people.”

Meanwhile, factional Speaker of the Rivers Assembly, Evans Bipi, has apologised to the people of Rivers State for the continuing crisis which had kept the House shut down for over seven months.
Bipi, who is still claiming to be the Speaker of the House, in his new year message in Port Harcourt, apologised to  Rivers people “on how the state has been run by the Executive arm with all frivolities and excesses due to the absence of the legislature and a Chief Judge in the state.

“I assure you that these will soon be a thing of the past, as we work towards amicable resolution of the crisis so that normalcy can return to state House of Assembly from January this year to the end of our tenure,” Bipi said.