One Year In Office: Countdown Begins In Rivers

● As APC and PDP trade tackles over Fubara’s future and a new Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly emerges

By PHC Telegraph

 

As part of activities marking the start of Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s one year in office,  the Rivers State Government has pledged it will remain accountable to the masses.

This is as the APC in Rivers State which is believed to be under the spell of a former governor of Rivers State orders its members in the State House of Assembly whose status as legitimate lawmakers is being challenged in court to commence impeachment moves against the Governor.

And the National Secretariat of the PDP in a statement decried threats by the APC in Rivers State to dismantle Fubara’s administration, and urged the rival political party to drop the silly idea of seizng control of Rivers State by force.

Celebration Of The Fubara Era:

Tuesday, the Secretary to the Government,  Tammy Danagogo addressed the press and unveiled the itinerary of activities planned to mark the administration’s one year in office.

Danagogo who revealed that the celebration will begin on the 14th of May stressed that the entire programme is not intended to idolise the person of the governor.

During the period, the SSG disclosed, the Governor will commission six critical projects completed by his administration and equally flag-off other crucial projects which will enhance the development of the State.

“I am a politician”, the SSG declared while extolling the leadership quality of the State Governor, but he said that he has never seen a people oriented leader like Fubara whose resolve is to put Rivers people first.

“In his characteristic style of embarking on what we have come to know as a calm and quiet revolution”, Danagogo explained, “he doesn’t want us to embark on an elaborate voyage of celebrations.

 

“He wants us to do what is exactly crucial and critical to let the people know what the government is doing and the direction of the government.”

He spoke of the emphasis that the administration is placing on accountability and good governance,  saying the Governor will provide an outlay of every kobo spent.

A total of six projects are to be commissioned according to facts that are emerging.

Projects to be commissioned include the Old Bori Road and the Andoni-Opobo end of the Unity Road.

Among roads that are to be flagged off within the celebration of the Governor’s one year anniversary which terminate on June 2 2024 is the second phase of the Trans Kalabari Road.

New Wave Of Crisis Erupts:

In a move that many think is an attempt to divert attention away from the celebration expected to provide a scorecard on Fubara’s attainments in the last one year, the APC  on Tuesday ordered its members in the House of Assembly to commence an impeachment process against the Governor.

The APC’s desire to impeach the Governor was totally unexpected.

It was perhaps an attempt to share the media space with the PDP government as Rivers people eagerly prepare to celebrate the Fubara-led government. But it was similarly a dangerous indication that Rivers State is about to enter a new phase of crisis.

APC’s Caretaker Committee Chairman, Tony Okocha, who hails from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area like Wike claimed that Fubara had hurled insults at President Bola Tinubu.

Fubara who spoke when a delegation from Bayelsa State visited him at Government House, Port Harcourt, said that he went along  with the political solution proposed by the President in order to achieve peace even when the issues at the bottom of the crisis had both legal and constitutional undertones.

He admitted that as part of the peace accord he had agreed to recognise the lawmakers so that peace would reign.

But he alluded to the fact that the status enjoyed by lawmakers who are presently fighting him has been made possible by the recognition that he accorded them as a result of the peace deal.

Threatening to de-recognize if they continue with their acts, Fubara noted that in the eyes of the law they do not exist.

Okocha cleverly interpreted the remark made by Fubara which obviously centred on the attitude of the lawmakers to mean an insult on the President.

An analyst who is keeping a keen eye on events remarked, “Many here wonder how lawmakers whose seats are being contested in court by people who believe they have no right to remain in office can set out to impeach a governor.”

Chief Anabs Sara Igbe who appeared Wednesday on the Morning Show broadcast on Arise Television said that the lawmakers ought to vacate the charges against them before contemplating impeachment moves against Governor Fubara.

He said stakeholders who were in court to seek legal interpretation on the status of the lawmakers are awaiting a decision from the Court of Appeal.

Emergence Of A New Speaker:

 

In a swift reaction to threats that are coming from Wike’s political structure, supporters of Fubara in the House have elected a new House Speaker.

He is Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo, the lawmaker representing Bonny Local Government Area State Constituency on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

He was elected on Wednesday by his colleagues as the crisis in the State sparked off by the APC took a completely different turn.

Edison Ehie who is now the Governor’s Chief of Staff, it would be recalled, was elected as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly when the unending crisis initially erupted.

Ehie however resigned his place as Speaker and his membership of the House out of respect for the peace accord brokered by President Bola Tinubu.

Meanwhile, the new Speaker has thrown out all the laws purportedly amended by the Martin Amaewhule led faction, saying that under Section 109 of the Constitution they were no longer competent to be addressed as lawmakers.

What PDP Said:

The PDP in its reaction said its attention has been drawn to a “delusional declaration by the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Mr. Tony Okocha.

Describing Okocha’s call for the removal of Governor Fubara as “a hallucinatory directive”, the  Spokesman of the  PDP Hon. Debo Ologunagba noted that “Such reckless and unwarranted statement by the APC Chairman in Rivers State exposes the vile desperation of the APC, which is roundly rejected in Rivers State, to use violence, coercion and bullying to undermine the WILL of the people and forcefully take over the State.”

He said that the statement by the APC Chairman shows fact “the level of APC’s arrogance and condescension for the people of Rivers State” and  further confirms “APC’s desperation to forcefully annex their democratic rights under the Constitution.”

“In any event, the individuals that the Rivers State APC Chairman directed to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara are not legally members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and cannot contemplate or exercise such powers under the law.

“These individuals, by virtue of Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) have since vacated and lost their seats, rights, privileges, recognition and obligations accruable to members of the Rivers State House of Assembly after their defection from the PDP, the political Party platform upon which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly

“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”, the PDP Spokesman said.

He added, “The national leadership of the PDP expresses appreciation to the people of Rivers State for always standing with the PDP and urges them to continue to resist the APC in its vicious attempt to inject violence and destabilize the State.”

We’ll Do Better Than Wike:

The State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joe Johnson had said while fielding a question during the press conference that Fubara would surpass Wike’s flyover record under three years in office.

He said whereas Wike merely built overhead bridges, Fubara is interested in erecting proper interchanges that would enhance connectivity.