*State ALGON Backs Call For Gov’s Impeachment

*They Cannot Impeach Fubara, Says PDP

*27 Members Lack Powers To Serve Fubara Impeachment Notice- G-60 Reps

*Govt Bars LG Heads From Appearing Before Assembly

AS the political crisis in Rivers State between Governor Siminilayi Fubara and his erstwhile mentor, predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, takes a dangerous turn, the member representing the Bonny State Constituency, Victor Oko-Jumbo, was on Wednesday, May 8, elected as Speaker of the state House of Assembly by the faction loyal to the governor.

In a video he shared on social media, Jumbo said he had directed the clerk of the House to inform Fubara that a new leadership had been elected in the assembly, expressing his readiness to work for the people of the state.

Currently, only two lawmakers are known to be loyal to Jumbo out of the 32-member Assembly, following the death of  seats Dinebari Loolo in September last year.

Recall that in October last year, Edison Ehie was elected speaker of the factional assembly after his removal as House Leader by members, led by Martin Amaewhule, at the peak of the plot to impeach Fubara.

Ehie later resigned as a lawmaker and was appointed Chief of Staff by Fubara, while 27 members, who are loyal to Wike, including Amaewhule, who were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Since then, they have been in opposition to the governor, even as their seats and continuous membership remain contentious and has moved to the court for determination.

On Monday, May 6, Fubara said the existence of members of the Assembly was based on his recognition, insisting that members of the Awaewhule-led faction do not “exist,”  adding that he decided to “give them a floating” by adhering to a peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu.

As the face-off between the governor and the Amaewhule faction continued, the Assembly went ahead to override Fubara on some Bills he had declined assent to, including the Rivers State Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2024, further widening the gulf.

Shortly after his election as factional speaker, Oko-Jumbo declared the actions carried out by the faction led by Amaewhule as null and void, urging Fubara to cease interactions with the “former legislators” who lost their positions due to their defection.

During his speech to the Assembly, Ehie insisted on the provisions of Section 92(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.

Oko-Jumbo observed that since the House’s previous session on December 13, last year, followed by its adjournment sine die, a significant amount of legislative misconduct had occurred, involving 25 “former members” of the 10th Rivers State House of Assembly, under Amaewhule’s leadership.

    Meanwhile, the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), River State chapter, said the call for Fubara’s impeachment was a step in the right direction.

Its Chairman, Allwell Ihunda, at a news conference in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, May 8, stated that 21 local government chairmen in the state were in support of the call

Recall that the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) recently called on the Amaewhule-led faction to commence impeachment proceedings against Fubara.

Ihunda, who is the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government, said the call for Fubara’s impeachment was to safeguard democracy and the rule of law, alleging that the governor has withheld the April statutory allocations to local government councils in the state.

“We did not receive allocations in April. This development is a show of executive rascality on the part of the governor,” he said, adding that Fubara had also refused to convene the Joint Account Allocation Committee meeting, which is the prerequisite for the release and disbursement of funds to the councils.

“The governor’s action is illegal. The state is at the verge of being plunged into totalitarianism,” he said, noting that Fubara had directed Heads of Local Government Administrations in the councils to present salary vouchers to his office directly.

“He wants salary vouchers and overheads of civil servants, excluding chairmen, vice chairmen, councilors and political appointees sent to his office.

“This action is unconstitutional; it is in contravention of Sections 3(6), 7 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution.”

He, therefore, urged the state Assembly to take appropriate steps towards checking the excesses of the governor to safeguard democracy in the state.

But the PDP countered that the 27 APC lawmakers cannot impeach Fubara, because they are no longer members of the House.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said at a new conference on Wednesday in Abuja that the directive by the state APC for the lawmakers to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor was an exercise in vain, as the lawmakers had since vacated their seats by virtue of Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution.
  According to him: “The lawmakers claiming to be APC members lost their seats after their defection from the PDP, the political party platform on which they were elected into the House.

“For emphasis, Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution provides that: a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if … (g) being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.’

“It should be noted that Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution is self-executory. The import of this provision is that the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who defected, have vacated their seat by reason of that defection.”

Ologunagba advised APC to come to terms with the fact that Rivers was home to PDP and that the people were not ready to leave the party.

In the same vein, a group of 60 federal lawmakers on Wednesday said the 27 lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant in December last year following their defection to the APC lack the powers to serve Fubara impeachment notice.

Their spokesman and member representing Ideato South/North Federal Constituency, Ikenga Ugochinyere, criticised the lawmakers for calling for Fubara’s impeachment, saying it is a call to anarchy that could lead to the collapse of democracy if the President does not call them to order.

He said: “Unless there is a supreme order of the court, these 27 lawmakers have lost their seats. We cannot allow this absurdity because the APC minister is working with the President and you now want to overthrow a legitimate governor.

“The President needs to intervene, because it is issues like these that led to the collapse of democracy in the 1970s and 1980s. If they are popular, they should contest fresh elections.”

The group insisted that the purported veto of the powers of the governor by the group of 27 persons “parading themselves as Rivers State lawmakers” was nothing, but legislative rascality taken too far.

   The group, in a statement signed by Ugochinyere, said: “These clowns, as far as we are concerned, are still moving about freely, parading themselves because of Fubara’s mercy and largely in obedience to the peace accord brokered by  Tinubu to end the political crisis in Rivers State.

“However, while the governor has stuck to the accord,  Wike has not, with what his loyalists are doing.

“One of such evidence is the purported veto of Rivers Procurement law….How can people worth calling lawmakers even think that mobilisation fee of not more than 20 per cent of any contract sum is enough for suppliers or contractors to move to the site or provide goods and services in the present economic quagmire masterminded by their allies in the federal government?

“It is also on notice that these persons who sit in some hotel rooms in Abuja or anywhere their paymasters take them to make such pronouncements have lost the status of lawmakers ever since they dumped the PDP, which was a vehicle that brought them to power, and joined APC.”

He added that their action violated Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), adding: “To this end, these people are not lawmakers and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should rise to the occasion and conduct elections to fill those vacant seats and save Rivers State and Nigeria this continuous illegality that the embarrassment that non-existing lawmakers are causing too often.

“We reiterate that the so-called veto will not be enforced.”

As the crisis lingers, Fubara has barred all heads and officials of the 23 local government in the state from appearing before the Assembly, warning that any chairman who appeared before the lawmakers risks being sacked.

The governor, in a circular signed by the Director of Information and Communications for Chairman Local Government Service Commission, Ebirieneuket Nteile, dated Tuesday, May 7, read: “I am directed to inform you all officers of the 23 Local Government Councils in Rivers State not to honour/appear before the members of Assembly or any purported invitation by anybody or group of persons in any guise without the permission of the Acting Chairman, Local Government Service Commission.

“Any staff who disobeys or violates this instruction will be dismissed accordingly from service. Treat it as very important, please.”

This ostensibly follows Fubara’s insistence that according to the law, the state does not recognise the defected lawmakers as they lost their mandate by switching from the PDP to APC.