THE Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said no one has the power to sack elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Recall that the rift between Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara since last year has polarised state Assembly, with each camp electing a speaker loyal to them.
In December last year, 25 Rivers members of the Assembly loyal to Wike defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their seats were subsequently declared vacant by Edison Ehie, who was then speaker of the camp loyal to Fubara.
Recently, precisely on May 6, Fubara told the defected lawmakers that they owed their existence to him, insisting: “Those group of men who claim they are our assembly members are not assembly members; they are not existing.”
And on May 10, a Rivers State High Court, presided over by Justice Charles Wali, while ruling on a motion ex parte filed by Victor Oko-Jumbo, the factional speaker loyal to Fubara, and two Assembly members- Sokari Goodboy and Orubienimigha Timothy, granted an interim injunction restraining the speaker of the Wike faction, Martin Amaewhule, and the other defected lawmakers from parading himself as speaker/members of the Assembly.
But speaking on Saturday, May 11, at an event to honour George Sekibo, a former senator, who has spent 36 years in public service, in Ogu-Bolo Local Council, Wike, while addressing the lawmaker representing Ogu-Bolo State Constituency, Arnold Davids, in apparent reference to Fubara’s gazetted Executive Order moving the sitting of the Assembly to the Government House, said: “Let me say this clearly, Arnold, don’t be frightened that anybody would remove you as an assembly member, nobody will remove you as an assembly member.
“Most of you don’t understand; this is our work. What l am doing is to make them fear, to make them angry.
“I have no other job than to make them angry everyday, to make them make mistakes everyday. And they will be in trouble everyday. So, don’t worry about yourselves.
“If they like, they can go to anybody by 2am, 4am to get an injunction. The law will take its course. We are not afraid; we followed due process. We must follow due process.
“We are not going to harm anybody. We are not going to give money to anybody to buy arms and kill anybody. We won’t do that.”
The former governor apologised to the people of the state for backing Fubara to succeed him as governor, noting: “I have made a mistake. I own up, and I ask God to forgive me. I have said all of you forgive me. But we will correct it at the appropriate time.
“I am a human being; I am bound to make a mistake. My judgment can be wrong, so forgive me for making a wrong judgment. That is life.”
