The plot to impeach Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara assumed another dimension yesterday as 27 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers of the 31-member state House of Assembly, loyal to Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, defected to All Progressives Congress (APC).
The development caused the governor to summon an emergency State Executive Council (exco) meeting.
But the leaderships of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and a non-governmental organisation, Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the seats of the defected lawmakers vacant.
At the same time, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) asked President Bola Tinubu to call the FCT minister to order, before he set Rivers State on fire.
Nonetheless, the caretaker chairman of APC in Rivers State, Mr. Tony Okocha, welcomed the decamped lawmakers, saying by that development, PDP in the state has been decapitated.
The rift between Fubara and Wike, the governor's political godfather, had divided PDP's political structure in the state, prompting the 27 legislators to move against the governor.
A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had earlier made an order stopping the two factions of the Rivers State House of Assembly from siting, pending the determination of a motion on notice before the court.
While the order of court restraining both factions of the Assembly from performing any legislative functions was still pending, the faction led by Martins Amaewhule rushed to Abuja to secure another order from the same Federal High Court empowering his faction of the House of Assembly to start sitting for legislative business.
The interim injunction was granted on November 30, which restrained the National Assembly from taking over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
However, at the emergency sitting of the Assembly yesterday, 27 members, who were elected on the platform of PDP, defected to APC.
The erstwhile PDP members, in letters they presented, which were read on the floor of the Assembly, claimed that the reason for their defection was the division in the party with regard to the tussle for the position of National Secretary of PDP, which had made communications difficult for them.
The lawmakers contended that the confusion surrounding the position of PDP National Secretary had generated a plethora of court cases instituted by members of the party, which had divided the party. They said they could no longer continue to be in such a political party.
Fubara held an emergency meeting with members of the state executive council.
THISDAY gathered that the meeting was not unconnected with the political crisis in the state, even though details were not made public.
But the APC state chairman said the defection was a welcome development. Okocha said what happened was a decapitation of PDP in the state.
Describing Wike as an opinion moulder in Nigeria, the APC chairman urged him, like the lawmakers, to also defect to APC, adding, ''We need him in Rivers State to lead us. If he finds APC a worthy party, we need him to come over. We need him to come and help us win the 2027 elections.''
Okocha said the defection of the lawmakers was legal and apt, and dismissed the allegation that Wike was behind it.
He stated, ''What is the relationship with Wike and the 27 Assembly members, who have been long embattled and arraigned by the governor himself. I don't know how the Assembly members will comfortably observe four members overrule them.
''The decision they have taken is the best. What is more is the fact that the state has been run aground by the former government before Wike. This one is built on consolidation and where is the consolidation.
''The decision of the lawmakers was ripe and apt because it's miscarriage of justice to imagine that four Assembly members will run and overrule the other 27 members, and they have the governor's support in what they are doing.''
PDP, LP, Others Urge INEC to Declare Legislators' Seats Vacant, Hold Fresh Polls
PDP and LP said INEC should declare the seats of the 27 decamped lawmakers vacant and commence the process of conducting fresh elections to fill them.
PDP asserted that by defecting from the party, the political platform on which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly, the seats of the 27 lawmakers had become vacant by virtue of the provisions of Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
In a statement by National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba, the party said, ''For the avoidance of doubt, Section 109 (1) 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...'''
''By reason of the above constitutional provision and its clear interpretation by the Supreme Court, the 27 defected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have vacated and lost their seats, rights, privileges, recognition and obligations accruable to members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.''
PDP, therefore, demanded that Speaker of the Rivers State House Assembly immediately comply with the provisions of the constitution by declaring the seats of the 27 lawmakers vacant.
Similarly, LP, in a statement by its Rivers State chairman, Hilda Dokubo, said, ''It has come to the attention of the leadership of the Labour Party, the development in the Rivers State House of Assembly, where about 27 members of the Assembly were said to have defected from one party to another in disregard to the constitutional provisions.''
Citing same constitutional sections as PDP, LP said, ''The above provision of the constitution is very clear about the fate that must befall those legislators, who betrayed the party that sponsored them. Therefore, Labour is calling on the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly to declare vacant the 27 seats of the defected members without delay in line with the laws of the land.''
Likewise, a non-governmental organisation, Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy, give INEC 48 hours to conduct bye elections to fill vacancies created by the defection of the 27 lawmakers.
The group, in a letter dated December 11, 2023 and addressed to the INEC chairman, predicated their demand on Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, which they stated forbade the legislators from continuing to hold office after defecting from the party that sponsored them into office.
While citing a 2022 judgement of court, the group warned that if the electoral umpire failed to commence the process of bye-election in the next two days, it would have no choice than to commence legal action against INEC.
Ijaw National Congress Urges Tinubu to Caution Wike
INC urged Tinubu to caution Wike against plans to remove Fubara from office.
In a statement by its President, Professor Benjamin Okaba, INC wondered why Wike was resolute in the plot to remove Fubara from office in spite of the interventions by the president and other stakeholders.
The INC leader also flayed the security agencies for their support for the Amaewhule-led faction of the state Assembly loyal to the FCT minster. It said the plot by Wike and some federal government officials to impeach Fubara was inimical to national stability.
Okaba pointed out that the security agencies provided security for the anti-Fubara legislators to sit, against a subsisting court order requiring all parties to maintain the status quo and to take no official actions until further notice.
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INC said in the statement, ''Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), we implore you once again to call Mr Wike and those federal government agencies and agents, who are putting Rivers State at risk of anarchy, to order. Such elements are inimical to the stability of Nigeria sooner or later.
''Mr Wike has also featured on several network TV stations where he made very provocative statements and scandalous claims against Governor Fubara; accusing the governor of attempting to 'take over' his 'structure', openly taunting him as an ingrate, who is lacking in integrity as well as asserting without investigation that the governor masterminded the burning down of the hallowed chamber of the Rivers State House of Assembly.''
Equally reacting, a coalition of civil society groups said the action of Amaewhule-led Assembly was an affront on the rule of law. It said their action amounted to disobedience of court order.
The group appealed to Tinubu to call Wike to order.
Convener of Ogoni Development Drive, Mr Solomon Lenu, who addressed journalists in Port Harcourt, alleged that the minister was bent on throwing the state into anarchy by using lawmakers in the Assembly to sack the sitting governor.
It said, ''Wike is spending government's resources from the FCT treasury to sponsor some dissident lawmakers to ensure that they make the government of Sir Siminalayi Fubara ungovernable. But we, the Rivers people, are telling him that, just as he completed his eight years as governor, Fubara, whom he (Wike) brought to us, will complete his term, no matter the storm.
''Wike is bent on ensuring that he causes anarchy in the state such that when the people rise in support of the governor, a state of emergency will then be declared in Rivers State. We can assure you that this will never happen. Nobody will truncate the peace that we are enjoying in Rivers state. Not even Wike and his lawless lawmakers.''
