By Ehichioya Ezomon
Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara on Thursday, May 9, stormed the Rivers State House of Assembly Residential Quarters in Port Harcourt, which serves as an interim legislative chamber for the 27 lawmakers loyal to former Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.
This comes amidst fresh calls on the Martin Amaewhule-led lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Rivers Assembly, to impeach the governor in the wake of his labelling as “not constitutional” the President Bola Tinubu brokered peace deal between him and Wike, to resolve the Rivers political crisis.
The Fubara visit was revealed in a video posted by Channels TV, which shows him and his entourage driving into the assembly quarters, and was later quoted as saying, “he was there as the governor of Rivers State.”
As first reported by PUNCH, a viral video seen by its reporter showed the moment the governor, “dressed in a blue jean, light green T-shirt and a cap to match, walked around the quarters with a retinue of security men and some of his aides.”
“After a few walks in from the fenced buildings, Fubara, with a hand sign, asked his aides and others to return, and he immediately hopped into his SUV and left.”
The New Diplomat recalls that Governor Fubara’s unannounced visit the Assembly residential quarters on Aba Road axis of Port Harcourt, followed calls for his impeachment by the Rivers chapter of the APC, and the state branch of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
On Monday, May 6, Fubara received a delegation of political and traditional leaders from Bayelsa State, led by former Governor and Senator Seriake Dickson, on a solidarity visit to the governor in Port Harcourt.
In the course of their interactions that centred on the political crisis in Rivers, Fubara told his visitors that the group of 27 lawmakers of the APC in the Rivers assembly was “not existing,” in the eye of the law, as the legislators’ seats were declared vacant by the five-member faction of the assembly loyal to Fubara.
The governor also pronounced as “not constitutional” the peace deal that contains eight-point resolutions, aimed at ensuring peace in Rivers, which Fubara signed voluntarily, and confirmed in a December 25, 2023, broadcast, as “not a death sentence,” as claimed by his supporters.
The supporters, mainly politically-inclined elders in Rivers, have asked Fubara to repudiate the peace agreement because Tinubu Wike, Fubara and Amaewhule have no right to seek political solution to the Rivers crisis, in breach of the amended 1999 Constitution.
The governor’s remarks drew instant reaction from the Rivers APC chairman, Chief Tony Okocha, who asked the 27 lawmakers of the party to commence immediate impeachment of the governor.
Similarly, the chairman of the Rivers ALGON, and also chairman of Port Harcourt City local government area, Allwell Ihunda, has backed the call for Fubara’s impeachment, accusing him, at a media briefing on Wednesday, May 8, of “withholding local government allocation for April without a reason.”
The previous impeachment process against Fubara was part of the issues that snowballed into the Rivers crisis, which has taken its toll on governance in the state, as Fubara devotes much time and resources to keeping his “opponents at bay, and sustaining his 11-month-old administration.
Governor Fubara has declared 20 days of activities to mark the May 29, 2023, first year anniversary in office, made possible by the strong backing of his estranged political godfather, Wike, who “anointed,” and campaigned for him to be Governor of the oil-rich Rivers State in the March 18, 2023, election.
Now, they have parted ways, and fight dirty in a battle for supremacy over control of Rivers State’s political structures ahead of the 2027 general election.
