The Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly and the faction loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara have initiated a fresh round of crisis in the state.
On Tuesday, the Amaewhule faction declared the seats of four of their colleagues loyal to Fubara vacant.
The Appeal Court in Abuja recently granted legality to the Amaewhule leadership of the Assembly.
In its reaction, the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led pro-Fubara lawmakers insisted Amaewhule and his group had ceased to be lawmakers in the state.
The group called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a by-election to fill the vacant seats.
The new power play followed the battle for the political control of the state between Fubara and the immediate-past governor of the state and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Those whose seats were declared vacant by the lawmakers loyal to Wike were Edison Ehie, who is now the Chief of Staff to the Governor and three others, citing their absence from sittings for 56 days.
Amaewhule, who stated this while presiding over plenary in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said Ehie did not properly write to inform the House of his new office, and as such, his seat had been declared vacant.
The resolution of the House followed a motion by its leader, Major Jack.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Tuesday by the Special Assistant on Media to the Speaker, Martins Wachukwu, the assembly declared the seats of the three lawmakers vacant for absenteeism.
The statement read, “In compliance with the combined provisions Section of 109 (1)(e),(f) and Section 109 (2) of the 1999 Constitution as altered, the Rivers State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, at its 56th Legislative Sitting of the Second Session, declared vacant the seats of Hon Edison Ogerenye Ehie, Hon Victor Oko Jombo, Hon Adolphus Timothy Oruibienimigha and Hon Sokari Goodboy Sokari, representing Ahoada East II, Bonny, Opobo/Nkoro and Ahoada West Constituency respectively.
“Riding on the back of a motion moved by the House Leader, Hon Major Jack and co-sponsored by 25 other members, that the seats of these four members be declared vacant for their continued refusal or failure to attend and participate in legislative meetings of the House, without just cause for a period amounting in aggregate, to more than one-third of the total number of days the House met in the first session of the Tenth Assembly and for also being absent in the past 56 legislative sittings of the Second Session.”
Commenting on the motion, Amaewhule recalled that after the peace parley that was held at the instance of President Bola Tinubu, the House withdrew its impeachment notice on the governor and also recalled the four suspended members, yet they had obstinately refused to attend sittings of the House.
When the Speaker put the question, the House voted in the affirmative that the seats of the four members be declared vacant and the Independent National Electoral Commission be notified to conduct elections to fill the vacancies.
Amaewhule said that given the fact the Court of Appeal upheld all the injunctive orders given by the Federal High Court, the governor should present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the House again.
However, the Oko-Jumbo-led faction of the assembly insisted that the legislative seats of Amaewhule and 24 others remained vacant following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
It said the vacant seats must be filled through a bye-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The Assembly, in a statement signed by its Speaker, Oko-Jumbo, in Port Harcourt, said the 25 legislative seats were declared vacant on December 13, 2024, by the then legitimately recognised Speaker, Ehie, and regretted that the INEC had been foot-dragging on the conduct of bye-election to fill the vacant seats.
He said that the inability of INEC to do the needful since December 13, 2023, created room for unnecessary distractions from Amaewhule and his committee of friends.
Oko-Jumbo then called on the commission to discharge its constitutional responsibilities to the people of the State.
“Please, recall that on the 11th day of December, 2023, Martin Chike Amaewhule and 24 others defected from the Peoples Democratic Party that sponsored their election into the Rivers State House of Assembly to the All Progressives Congress. Their defection was headline news and widely reported in print and electronic media.
“On the 13th day of December 2023, the defection by Martin Chike Amaewhule and 26 others was further cemented in an affidavit deposed to by Martin Chike Amaewhule, when in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1681/2023, Martin Chike Amaewhule & 26 Ors v. INEC & 5 Ors. in paragraphs 15 thereof, he deposed as follows:‘That faced with the state of uncertainty and confusion in the 2nd defendant (Peoples Democratic Party) caused by division in the political party, the plaintiffs were forced by the state of affairs within the second defendant to defect and join the All Progressives Congress.
“On the 13th day of December, 2023, Rt. Hon Edison Ogerenye Ehie, as then Speaker, declared the seats of Martin Chike Amaewhule and 24 others in the Rivers State House of Assembly vacant and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a bye-election to fill their vacant legislative seats. This has not been challenged and set aside by any court of law.
“Subsequently, I was elected as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Myself and the Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have been piloting the affairs of the Rivers State House of Assembly, including passing resolutions and screening various eminent persons as commissioner-nominees and recommending them to His Excellency, the Governor of Rivers State, to be appointed and sworn in as commissioners, among others.
“Truth and facts are constant, sacrosanct and indelible. The fact of the defection by Martin Chike Amaewhule and 24 Ors cannot be erased by pretenders like Martin Chike Amaewhule and his committee of friends.
“Today, the 15th day of October 2024, Martin Chike Amaewhule & 24 Ors who ceased to be members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, on December 11, 2023, purportedly declared vacant the legislative seats of Rt. Hon Victor Oko-Jumbo and others as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. They have no such powers. This is an exercise in futility. It is a joke taken too far.
“As the Rt. Honourable Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, I call on INEC to immediately conduct a bye-election to fill the legislative seats declared vacant on December 13, 2023.
“I also call on Nigerians and the good people of Rivers State in particular to ignore the vituperations and ranting of Martin Chike Amaewhule and his committee of friends.
“They are not members of the Rivers State House of Assembly not to talk of having the powers to declare vacant the legislative seats of legitimate Assembly members, who have remained steadfast and did not defect like them,” he added.
