Tension in Rivers as APC directs Assembly members to impeach Fubara

EMMANUEL NLEWEDUM, Port Harcourt

 

The 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Rt. Hon. Martin Amaehwule has been charged to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against the State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara.

Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, CTC, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State, Chief Tony Okocha, gave the charge to the lawmakers loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, while briefing journalists in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

Okocha said the decision of the party followed remarks by Fubara that the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the political crisis rocking the state was only a political solution and not constitutional.

He threatened that the Party will invoke relevant sections of its constitution to discipline the Assembly members as party members, if they fail to commence the impeachment process against the governor.

Governor Fubara had on Monday, when he received a Bayelsa State delegation of political and traditional leaders, led by former governor of the State, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson on a courtesy visit at Government House in Port Harcourt, taken a swipe at the lawmakers, accusing them and their leaders of rebuffing all his efforts for reconciliation and peace in the political crisis rocking the state, declaring that they do not exist anymore as lawmakers in the eyes of the law.

The governor also stated that he accepted the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu to give the Assembly members a soft-landing after they their failed impeachment attempt against him on October 30, 2023, and their subsequent defection from the PDP to the APC.

He explained that the 8 points peace accord has no constitutional basis, but a political solution to a problem.

But the Rivers APC CTC Chairman, Okocha who stated the Nigeria constitution recognises the three arms of government such as the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative, said the governor has no constitutional power to declare duly elected members of the state Assembly non-existent.

He said, “The Governor’s head has become bigger than his pillow. He does not respect the law. He does anything he cares to do. We will not sit here to see Rivers State become a laughing stock in the comity of states, because we have a Governor who does not know his left from his right.

“You know the history of politics. You know the constitution of Nigeria. The Governor said the Assembly members do not exist, that whatever thing they are doing is because he allowed them. In other words he has re-written the books. Elementary politics taught us the three organs of government and their roles. And goes further to talk about the separation of powers and checks and balances. Now what the Governor was implying clearly is that he is ruling Rivers State without laws.

“That Rivers State runs only executive arm and judiciary. So what that implies is simply absurdity. You can now see the tendencies of a dictator.

“As an opposition party in Rivers State, we will not keep quiet, we will shout. It is regrettable that the Governor has taken up to this point and we will not take it. The Governor was clear whether unambiguous in his deliberate attempt to denigrate the person of Mr President.

“All these while he has been sponsoring people to challenge the power of the President in the proclamation made by the President. The Governor said that the President’s intervention in Rivers State which he signed was not constitutional but a political solution. But he assented to it, not under duress.

“The agreement was signed in a friendly environment and the Governor assented to the proclamation and had the opportunity to speak where he thanked Mr President. So nobody forced him to sign the proclamation, he did it willingly. So at what point did the governor realize that the resolution was a political matter?

“What section of the constitution empowers the Governor to declare the Assembly non-existent? The role of the Governor is proclamation of the Assembly which is done once in four years. The constitution doesn’t allow him for quarterly proclamation of the Assembly.

“He dissolved the House and proclaimed the Assembly at the end of the tenure of the Assembly. Mind you the Assembly we are talking about is a representative of the people, they were duly elected. They are not his appointees. So where did the Governor derive his powers to say that the Assembly is non-existent.

“Meanwhile records are there about the correspondences between the Governor and the Assembly wherein he addressed Martin Amaewhule as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“We want this to be on record as the Chairman of the APC in Rivers State, as the representative of Mr President, we won’t sit here to see the Governor declare on his own as if he is in court. He has become Daniel, who is sitting in judgement to declare the Assembly members’ seats vacant.

“A state as crucial and all important as Rivers State churned out a dunderhead. We cannot accept that. To that extent in consultation with my party, we have directed and we are directing the Assembly members and as APC members who are in the Assembly to immediately commence the impeachment of Governor Sim Fubara. And if they don’t do that there is what they call party discipline. We shall invoke the relevant section of the constitution,” he said.

In his swift reaction, Rivers Commissioner for Information, Mr Joseph Johnson, said Okocha is not the Chairman of APC in Rivers State.

“In our jurisprudence the 27 lawmakers have lost their seat on the day they defected to another party that’s what the law says. The Constitution of federal Republic of Nigeria section 109 clearly stated that and it’s incontrovertible. The law says you cannot put something on nothing.

“There is nothing at all to even put on something. The Rivers State House of Assembly does not exist, they are none existent. The governor said yesterday (Monday) that they does not exist but out of his magnanimity he has allowed them, he even went further to draw them closer but it appears that they don’t understand.”

 

.Clark writes IGP, warns against looming danger

 

Meanwhile, the Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Clark on Tuesday, warned against looming danger in Rivers state if the political crisis is not resolved quickly.

This follows the several impeachment threat on Governor Fubara by Speaker Martins Amaewhule led the State Assembly, believed to be loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

Clark in an open letter to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, urged him to step into the matter to forestall anarchy in the state by stopping the members of the House of Assembly from parading themselves as lawmakers.

He said that under section 109 (1g) 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, the 27 lawmakers ceased to be members of the Rivers State Assembly following their announced decamping to the All Progressives Congress.

It states: “Being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected; 2, The Speaker of the House of Assembly shall give effect to subsection (1) of this section, so however that the Speaker or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of the members.”

According to him, “I have decided to address this letter to you as a senior citizen and Elder Statesman and I have served my country for over 70 years and I will be 97 on the 25th of May. It is therefore my duty to pray to the Almighty God at all times for the peace and stability of our great country. We owe it as an obligation to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government which will be one year on the 29th of May.

“We must therefore condemn and prevent any action by any individual or group of individuals that would threaten the peace, stability, and unity of this country.

“We have no other country to go to if there is any uncontrollable crisis in the country and this is the main reason why I have been involved in the looming crisis in Rivers State between the former Governor Barr Nyesom Wike who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the current Governor, His Excellency, Siminalayi Fubara which is spreading like wildfire and every attempt by Mr President to resolve it amicably has not succeeded.”

He said: “The recent unprovoked announcement by the Speaker and 26 former Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly might cause a breakdown of law and order in Rivers State and the consequences of such crisis will not only affect Rivers state politically, socially and economically but will also affect the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large. We have enough of such crises of all dimensions in nearly all parts of this country already and we therefore prevent any more of such crisis.

“I had earlier advised and appealed to our President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call his Minister Nyesom Wike to order to avoid this looming crisis and that the interest of the entire country should supersede the interest of an individual or a small group of people otherwise the consequences will be disastrous.

“It is in this spirit I am addressing this letter to you as the Inspector General of Police who is in charge of the peace and stability of this country. You are therefore fully aware of the dangerous precarious situation we are facing today in this country whereby the people are no longer safe to move around, to go to their farms to feed themselves; I seriously warn that if the sanctity of the country’s constitution is not obeyed by its citizens, the consequences that will follow will be anarchy.

“The 27 former Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have automatically forfeited their seats in accordance with section 109 (1g) 2 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, which states; “g, being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another part before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected; 2, The Speaker of the House of Assembly shall give effect to subsection (1) of this section, so however that the Speaker or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of the member.”

“Above all, section 1 of our Supreme Law i.e. the constitution states, “Sub1, this Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

He therefore urged the Police IG to the Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from parading themselves and issuing provocative statements to intimidate and increase tension in Rivers State which may one day burst into open conflagration.

He added: “You also have to protect the constitution of Nigeria without which there will be no Nigeria.

“Mr Inspector General of Police, it is even more disturbing that these former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly are carrying out their illegal activities under the cover of policemen in uniform on whom rest a primary duty to enforce the law. This must be very disturbing to you as it is to all responsible Nigerians.

“Finally, I sincerely appeal to you to use your office as head of the Law enforcement arm of the country to advise Mr President and other members of the National Security Council of which you are the centre, to bring this show of shame to an end and spare Nigeria from being a laughing stock to the entire world.

“This is more so as Mr President and all of you swore to protect and defend the constitution of Nigeria, which now appears to be overlooked despite the glaring infringement being openly carried out in favour of one individual and his followers.”

 

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