Fubara-backed Rivers speaker declares seats of 27 defected lawmakers vacant

 

Governor Siminalayi Fubara backed-Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, has declared vacant the seats of 27 lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Ehie had on Tuesday obtained a court order to carry out legislative business without interference by a rival group led by Martin Amaewhule.

Buoyed by the court protection, Mr Ehie’s faction, which has only four members, met and declared the seats of the defected lawmakers vacant before receiving Governor Fubara, who presented N800 billion appropriation bill for the 2024 fiscal year.

“Distinguished colleagues, the House will duly inform INEC of the vacancies in the Rivers State House of Assembly and indeed conduct a fresh election to fill the above vacancies,” Mr Ehie said on Wednesday’s sitting after reading the names of the affected lawmakers, Vanguard newspaper reported.

Mr Fubara presented the budget to the four-member assembly in a room inside the Rivers Government House, Port Harcourt.

While the budget presentation was going on, the Rivers State Government was demolishing the assembly complex whose integrity it said was compromised during the explosion and fire incident which occurred at the complex in October during an attempt by some lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara.

The crisis between Messrs Fubara and Wike triggered the splitting of the assembly into two factions – Martin Amaewhule led a 27-member faction loyal to Mr Wike while Mr Ehie’s faction had Governor Fubara’s support.

A power tussle between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now the FCT minister, triggered the crisis in the assembly.

The crisis which has persisted despite the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, took a new dimension on Monday, with the 27 lawmakers announcing their defection to the APC.

Legality of Mr Ehie’s actions

Two legal practitioners in Nigeria, Clement Onwuenwunor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Inibehe Effiong, a Lagos-based rights lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES, Tuesday, that any action taken by Mr Ehie’s faction is legally justified until the court order is vacated.

Reacting to Mr Ehie declaring the seats of his 27 colleagues vacant, another lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN said the defected Rivers lawmakers were not exposed to sound legal advice.

Mr Falana stated this while appearing on Channels Television Politics today on Wednesday, according to a Vanguard newspaper report.

The legal practitioner said that INEC is mandated by law to conduct elections for the seats of the lawmakers.

“Just yesterday, 20 legislators who defected from the PDP to the APC had their seats declared vacant by the court. That’s the law unless the Supreme Court decides to change it.

“It is also a good development; it’s also a good law. It is a good interpretation that there should be no political prostitution in the country because it is tantamount to political immorality. If you are voted on a platform of a political party and you abandon the party, you’re advised to go and try your luck by contesting again under a new political party,” Mr Falana said.