A few hours after the emergence of another factional speaker in the Rivers State House of Assembly, the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, yesterday visited the assembly quarters amid a threat of impeachment from the 27 lawmakers loyal to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
Daily Trust reports that a four-member group of lawmakers loyal to the governor on Wednesday elected one of them, Victor Oko-Jumbo (Bonny State Constituency), as Speaker. He was elected 24 hours after Tony Okocha, Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, directed the lawmakers loyal to Wike to impeach Fubara.
Oko-Jumbo, in his acceptance, said his emergence was a sequel to the resignation of the former factional speaker, Edison Ehie, who has been appointed as the Chief of Staff to the governor. He said the actions taken by the pro-Wike lawmakers led by Martin Amaewhule as Speaker were null and void based on court rulings.
During his visit to the Assembly quarters, Governor Fubara acknowledged the emergence of Oko-Jumbo as the new speaker of the assembly, explaining that he embarked on the visit to undertake an on-the-spot assessment of the condition of the structures for a possible rehabilitation work to make the quarters conducive for lawmakers.
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Recall that a section of the Assembly complex was razed by arsonists during the heat of the first attempted impeachment of Fubara by Wike’s loyalists late last year.
The governor said, “Is the Assembly quarters not part of my property? Is there anything wrong with going to check on how things are going there?
“You are aware of the developments. We have a new speaker, and I went there to see for myself how things are. There might be a few things I might want to do there for the good of our people.”
Meanwhile, the Rivers State government has rolled out plans for events to mark the governor’s first year in office amidst an intense plot for his impeachment by the APC-backed lawmakers.
Secretary to the State Government, Tammy Danagogo, said there would not be an elaborate programme to mark the anniversary because the governor considers it unnecessary, even as he said the present administration has started a number of projects without flagging them off from the outset.
Danagogo further said the 20-day programme of events would begin on May 14, 2024, with the commissioning of the old Bori Road in the Eleme local government area of the state, while the events would end on June 1, 2024, with the Port Harcourt International Marathon.
