Rivers Crisis: APC Chieftain accuse President of enjoying undemocratic acts of ex-lawmakers abusing governance in Rivers State 

Stanley Ihedigbo

All Progressive Congress (APC) Chieftain, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has accused President Bola Tinubu , of enjoying undemocratic acts of former lawmakers abusing and decimating governance in Rivers by voiding the authority of the governor in lawmaking process in the State.

In a statement made available to The Mirror, the APC Chieftain, said that the president silent on the development in his state is not a good sign for a leader of a country.

He noted that seven  illegal laws have been passed by the former lawmakers  to weaken the powers of the Governor to govern the State to the pride of her citizens.

Eze emphasized that if this illegality taking place in Rivers State are not checked and these fellows called to order, they may summon the courage in line with their satanic agenda to start impeachment process against the Governor anytime very soon and when that happens, the atmosphere will be delivered of a crisis capable of culminating the whole encasement called Nigeria.

Eze noted that Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule and his cohorts, including their supporters and sponsors should call themselves to order and stop further demonstrating acts that paints them as enemies of Rivers State as the Governor is doing his best to correct the wrongs of the past eight years.

Eze explained that the election of Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo representing Bonny in the State House of Assembly is very lawful because in absence of other rightful Lawmakers the very few that are remaining thereby constitute the State Assembly.

“This action is informed by the absence of 27 lawmakers who have by their defections have ceased to be lawmakers and in their absence the few lawmakers remaining will have to elect their Speakers pending when the electoral body will conduct election to elect new representatives from the areas the former lawmakers came from. That is the law and in line with the Supreme Court stand and our constitution.

“If the lawmakers that elected Hon. Oko- Jumbo were on suspension, my answer to that is an illegal lawmakers can’t suspend genuine lawmakers so the argument of suspension doesn’t come in in any form in this regard”, he explained.

Eze called on the judiciary to expedite action in laying to rest all speculations about the legitimacy or otherwise of the Amaewhule led ex-lawmaker.

Eze  cautioned Amaewhule, the self-acclaimed Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and his band of disgruntled former lawmakers to exercise restraint in their quest to remain relevant in the political playground.

“Amaewhule and 26 others who willingly vacated their seats at the Rivers State House of Assembly upon their defection to the APC by virtue of Section 109 of the Constitution, became beneficiaries of Gov. Fubara’s magnanimity when, in line with the directive of President Bola Tinubu, he continued to fund and accord them some recognitions against the spirit of the Constitution, in a bid to arrest hostilities in the polity.

” Amaewhule and company have continued to heat up the polity with a floodgate of inflammatory comments and inciting actions capable of impregnating the already hostile and polluted atmosphere with unnecessary crisis just in order to please the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who is the chief-proponent of the the whole turmoil in Rivers State.

Eze  cautioned that if the acts of Rt Hon. Amaewhule and his co former lawmakers are not checked they may succeed to plunge Rivers State into an unprecedented crisis that may truncate our nascent democracy.

“Not minding the fact as approved by the Supreme Court of Nigeria and canvased severally by Chief Nyesom Wike, erstwhile Governor of Rivers State and Minister of FCT that once an elected representative of a particular political platform decamps to another political organization such an elected representative ceases or loses his or her seat, the FCT Minister has turned around to do the opposite.

“Mr. Wike campaigned against the defection of erstwhile Governors of Cross Rivers State (CRS) and that of Ebonyi Dr. D. N. Umahi and CRS State lawmakers when they decamped from PDP to APC and ensured that the Legislators from CRS loose their seats, I  therefore wondered why Wike is now supporting the illegality taking place in Rivers State after the 27 Legislators decamped from PDP to APC,” he added.

The APC Chief described as the hallucination of a demented soul, the call by one Tony Okocha who is an imposter as he is yet to revalidate his membership of APC after he decamped with Senator Abe to Social Democratic Party (SDP) for  Amaewhule and company to begin impeachment proceedings against the Governor of Rivers State, stressing that the group lacked the constitutional flavour act for the state in the capacity of lawmakers, having lost their seats to defection.

Eze urges the Governor and Nigerians to ignore Okocha  as he has never been a serious minded fellow.

Eze advised Nigerians not to stand aloof and watch the  hard-earned democracy destroyed by a few selfish group of people who have corned the finances of Rivers State this past eight years and want the trend to continue to the detriment of the emancipation and development of the State.

He congratulated the new Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jaja and charged him and his team to stand strong in the discharge of their legislative functions so that the state and her people can have a sigh of relief.

On the lawfulness of the election of Rt. Hon. JUMBO as the substantive Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly by three members of the House, Eze postulated asserting the experiences in Ondo, Edo, Plateau, Kogi where fewer members of their Houses held sway contrary to the majority members of the Houses.

Eze recalled when Wike wanted to use five Lawmakers to attempt to impeach the then Governor of the State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi

Eze highlighted that the election of Rt. Hon. Jumbo is very lawful because in absence of other rightful Lawmakers the very few that are remaining thereby constitute the State Assembly. This action is informed by the absence of 27 lawmakers who have by their defections have ceased to be Lawmakers and in their absence the few Lawmakers remaining will have to elect their Speakers pending when INEC will conduct election to elect new representatives from the areas the former lawmakers came from.

“That is the Law and in line with the Supreme Court stand and our constitution. If the Lawmakers that elected Jumbo were on suspension, my answer to that is an illegal Lawmakers can’t suspend genuine Lawmakers so the argument of suspension doesn’t come in in any form in this regard.