The political crisis rocking Rivers State took a new turn on Monday as 27 members of the State House of Assembly dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing division within the party.
The defecting lawmakers claimed that the PDP currently has three persons laying claim to the office of the National Secretary of the party and this had greatly affected them because they were no longer certain who was the authentic National Secretary to channel their complaints to whenever they have one.
This 27 defecting lawmakers are believed to be loyalists of the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, who has not hidden his disaffection with his political godson and incumbent governor of the oil-rich state, Siminalayi Fubara.
The genesis
It would be recalled that on Monday, 30 October 2023, the House of Assembly chamber was set ablaze by suspected thugs following moves by 24 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Wike to impeach Governor Fubara over what the members termed gross misconduct.
On Tuesday, 1 November, Governor Fubara rushed to a Rivers State High Court sitting at Isiokpo, Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, where he obtained an injunction barring the State House of Assembly and the Chief Justice of the State from impeaching him as the governor of the state. This order is still subsisting as it has not been vacated by the judge or a higher court of competent jurisdiction.
Thereafter, the rift between the state governor and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, became glaring to the public when the minister accused the governor of being an ingrate who has forgotten everything he did for him. Wike also accused Fubara of hobnobbing with his (Wike’s) perceived political enemies that fought him during the general election.
Defection blues and PDP’s stand
Monday’s defection by the 27 lawmakers again raised the issue of constitutionality as it affects cross-carpeting by elected political office holders, an issue that has been a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s political landscape.
In a swift reaction, the PDP called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately commence the process of conducting fresh elections into the 27 State Constituencies in Rivers State following the defection of the 27 lawmakers.
The PDP said the seats of the 27 lawmakers have become vacant by reason of their defection from the party on whose platform they were elected to the opposition APC.
In a press statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Olungunagba, on Monday evening, the party asserted that by defecting from the PDP, the political party platform on which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly, the seats of the respective 27 former lawmakers have become vacant by virtue of the provision of Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
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”.
The PDP, therefore, asked the Speaker of the Rivers State House Assembly to immediately comply with the provision of the Constitution by declaring the seats of the 27 former lawmakers vacant.
“In view of the vacancy now existing in the 27 State Constituencies in Rivers State, the PDP demands that INEC should within the stipulated period under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) conduct fresh election to fill the vacancies,” Olungunagba said.
“Our party cautions that the former lawmakers should stop parading themselves as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly as such would amount to impersonation with serious criminal consequences.
“The PDP commends the people of Rivers State for their steadfastness and loyalty to Democracy and Rule of Law especially at this time,” he said.
Victory for Fubara’s faction
On Tuesday, a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt ordered factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, who is loyal to Governor Fubara to preside over activities of the assembly and barred Martin Amaewhule, a Wike loyalist, from parading himself as Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, and also from going into the state assembly complex until the burnt chamber is fully renovated by the state government.
Justice M. W. Danagogo gave the order in an ex-parte motion, Suit No. PHC/3030/CS/2023, in which Rivers State House of Assembly was the 1st claimant and Edison Ehie, 2nd claimant, while Martin Amaewhule was 1st defendant, and Deputy Speaker Dumle Maol was the 2nd defendant.
In Tuesday’s process, which was prepared by D. I. Iboroma, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and others, Ehie prayed the court to order Amaewhule and others to stop gaining access into the state assembly complex until the demolished chamber is fully renovated by the government.
Ehie also asked the court to order that he lawfully take over the speakership of the state assembly until the matter is dispensed, praying that Amaewhule should be stopped from conducting himself as the Speaker of the House.
The court, in an interim order, granted the requests of the applicant, urging Amaewhule and others to stop using the assembly premises following the directive of Governor Fubara that the facility was under renovation.
APC rejects order, threatens to report judge to NJC
In a swift reaction, the Caretaker Chairman of the APC in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, rejected the judgement of the High Court, saying it was procured.
Okocha said the APC would ask the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to sanction Justice Danagogo.
“We wish to intimate Nigerians of the resurfacing of procured judgement in Rivers State. Today Rivers State people woke up to hear that one Justice Danagogo of the Rivers State High Court granted with impunity an exparte order to one Edison Ehie, recognising him as Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly,” Okocha said.
He recalled that the Ehie had earlier approached a Federal High Court in the state seeking to be declared as the Speaker and that argument has been taken in the case and judgement reserved for January 2024.
“Surprisingly today on the same subject matter Justice Danagogo granted an exparte order purporting to recognise this Edison as Speaker of the State House of Assembly. This is a fragrant abuse of court processes. It is an aberration for the judiciary to interfere in the lawmaking process. As far as we are concerned it does not exist.
He said the judge claimed that the case was filed on October 30, 2023 and assigned to him on November 1, 2023.
“For all this length of time if the subject matter required urgency, why did the judge wait till today, December 12, 2023 to grant an exparte?” he queried.
Okocha said it was the palpable fear of the defection, on Monday, of 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who were elected under the PDP platform that led to what he called “the procured order by Justice Danagogo”.
“The reason for the judgement is to allow the governor to present the budget to the Assembly. We in APC will not sit and watch judges issue exparte orders in flagrant disobedience of NJC orders. We are in clear knowledge that the reason for this affront is to allow the governor to present the 2023 budget to the Assembly.
“Alas, can four members of the Rivers State House of Assembly sit in leadership over a 31-member House with the other 27 members who have defected to the APC?
“We use this medium to send notice in advance to the learned judge that the APC Rivers will not sit and watch the procured exparte order made in clear violation of known trite principles of law and flagrant disobedience to the NJC,” he said.
Rivers Govt demolishes House of Assembly complex
Nigerians woke up on Wednesday morning to the news that the Rivers State government had begun demolition of parts of the State House of Assembly complex.
The demolition was carried out under heavy security presence with heavy duty trucks.
Our correspondent at the scene of the demolition reported that the section of the complex that was pulled down was the main chamber which suffered arson attack recently in the wake of the ongoing crisis broke between factions of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal Governor Fubara and the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.
Our corresponsent also reported that the main chamber was haphazardly demolished without any attempts to recover anything from the offices, not even the air-conditioning systems.
The general belief out there is that the demolition and commencement of reconstruction of the complex was a move to make it impossible for the factional Speaker Martin Amaewhule-led pro-Wike lawmakers, who defected to the APC on Monday, to continue to hold their meetings at the complex. Reports have it that they were holding activities at the complex despite a court injunction against further activities of the assembly.
However, the state’s Commissioner for Information, Mr Joseph Johnson, said in a statement on Wednesday in Port Harcourt that the demolition of the state House of Assembly Complex was necessitated by structural defects in the complex arising from explosion and fire outbreak.
Johnson said the incident rendered the building unfit for human use, saying that there were visible cracks on the walls and the entire structure looked frail and unsafe for legislative business.
He said that professional advice was sought on the integrity of the building after Governor Fubara’s inspection visit to determine the level of damage.
“After the assessment of the integrity of the complex, experts warned the government that continuing to use the building in its present state would be disastrous,” Johnson said.
‘’The government had tried all cost saving measures towards the repair of the complex until it bowed to superior view of rebuilding the complex to a more befitting edifice.
‘’In the interim, the Rivers Government has provided an alternative venue for the House of Assembly to conduct its affairs pending the rebuilding of the complex,’’ he said.
Recall that the assembly was attacked in October after an attempt by some lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings against the state governor. This divided the house into two factions, creating tension in the state.
Fubara presents 2024 budget
Meanwhile, as Rivers citizens and residents were still grappling with the news of the sudden demolition of parts of the State House of Assembly Complex on Wednesday morning, Governor Fubara presented the N800 billion 2024 Rivers State appropriation bill christened “Budget of Renewed Hope, Consolidation, and Continuity” to a four-man House of Assembly under the speakership of Rt. Hon. Ehie.
Ehie and his group were said to have sat at the complex before the demolition and announced the governor’s desire to relocate the sitting to a convenient place. The governor reportedly allocated a space in Government House for their sitting pending the renovation of the House.
Presenting the budget proposal to the Assembly, Governor Fubara said his administration would continue to focus on delivering on his mandate as every sector would benefit from the development agenda.
He assured that his administration would work with the state assembly to achieve the desired success for the state, saying that his government had within the past six months completed projects inherited from the previous administration and those not completed were nearing completion.
Governor Fubara said his administration would put measures in place to stimulate industrialization to encourage investment for the development of the state.
He said his administration was up-to-date in payment of salaries and pensions to civil servants, adding that the administration has spent N6 billion to pay backlog of gratuity to retired civil servants.
Guessing Wike’s next move
Even though Nyesom Wike is still a member of the PDP, the signs are glaring that he may soon be joining the APC fold.
Shortly before the 27 lawmakers who are loyal to him defected to the APC, Wike was seen in a video chanting what has now become the APC anthem right inside the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
“Jagaban, on your mandate we shall stand,” Wike sang repeatedly.
Pundits say it was not a coincidence that the defecting lawmakers sang the same song on the morning of their defection to the APC.
Another pointer is the dissolution, recently, of the leadership of the Rivers State chapter of the APC by the party’s National Chairman and the setting up of a caretaker committee with members loyal to Wike.
Political observers say it is only a matter of time before Wike, who has been at loggerheads with the PDP since he lost the presidential primary to Atiku Abubakar, fully joins the APC.
