Four Rivers lawmakers make U-turn, back impeachment move against Fubara

Four members of Rivers House of Assembly, who had earlier withdrawn from the impeachment move against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, have backtracked – and are now in support of it.

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The assembly members disclosed this in a press conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Friday, 16 January.

The lawmakers are the Minority Leader, Sylvanus Nwankwo, who represents Omuma State Constituency, Peter Abbey, the member representing Degema State Constituency, Barile Nwakoh, who represents Khana State Constituency I, and Emilia Amadi of Obio/Akpor State Constituency II, where the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, hails from.

Last week, they announced their withdrawal from the impeachment move against Governor Fubara and his deputy and appealed for an amicable resolution of the crisis.

‘No sign of remorse’

Speaking during the press conference on Friday, the four lawmakers explained that they decided to reverse their stance because Governor Fubara and his deputy, Mrs Odu, a professor, “failed to show any remorse”.

The Minority Leader, Mr Nwankwo, claimed that the lawmakers found out that the governor and his deputy have employed their media aides to attack the Rivers House of Assembly, rather than seeking a political solution.

“You’ll recall that on the 12th day of January, my colleague and I, Honourable Peter Abbey, addressed the press, wherein we made a plea to our colleagues to seek a political solution to the crisis between the assembly and the governor of Rivers State.

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“During the time of this appeal, we found out that the governor and deputy governor have employed their media boys and aides to continuously attack the Rivers State House of Assembly, instead of seeking a political solution which we offered,” he said.

“It is on this basis that my colleague, Peter Abbey, and I are saying that the impeachment proceeding should continue. We have rescinded our plea.”

The Deputy Minority Leader, Mrs Nwakoh, also claimed that the governor and deputy governor have sent signals that they are not prepared to retrace their steps and govern in line with the Nigerian Constitution.

“They (the governor and deputy) are adamant. We are now convinced that their strategy is to intimidate us into withdrawing the impeachment process for the third time, while they continue their infractions on the Constitution and the law,” she said.

Continuing, Mrs Nwakoh said: “They are insisting that we will not perform our oversight functions like other state legislatures in the federation. This is very bad for our democracy.

“On this note, we are proceeding with the impeachment process. And while we thank Mr President for his fatherly effort so far, the governor and his deputy have both disregarded.”

On her part, Mrs Amadi equally reiterated that she and her colleagues have now reversed their stance and joined the move to impeach Mr Fubara and his deputy.

Background

On 8 January, the Rivers assembly initiated a third impeachment proceedings against Mr Fubara.

The impeachment move came shortly after the FCT minister, Mr Wike, accused the governor of reneging on the terms of a peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu in June last year.

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The House, two days later, refuted reports suggesting that it had discontinued the impeachment move against Mr Fubara and his deputy.

On 11 January, the lawmakers stated that they had uncovered “secret plots” by “certain persons” to use the high courts in Rivers State to halt its sittings and thwart its impeachment move.

The impeachment move is linked to the protracted feud between Messrs Fubara and Wike.

The Rivers lawmakers are loyal to the FCT minister.