Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The Rivers State House of Assembly, led by beleaguered Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, has declared the seats of the factional speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Edison Ehie, and two others vacant.
The Assembly’s action came on the heels of controversy surrounding Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s 2024 Appropriation Bill.
House Leader, Major Jack, and 25 other members had presented the motion seeking that the seats of the four members be declared vacant.
They said the motion became necessary as the affected lawmakers allegedly continued refusal to attend and participate in legislative meetings of the Assembly for a period amounting, in aggregate, to more than one-third of the total number of days the legislature met in the first session of the 10th Assembly.
During the sitting yesterday, the lawmakers said the motion was “in compliance with the combined provisions Section of 109 (1)(e),(f) and Section 109 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, as altered”.
They added that the affected lawmakers had been absent in the past 56 legislative sittings of the second Session.
Other affected lawmakers were Adolphus Timothy Oruibienimigha (Opobo/Nkoro constituency), and Hon. Sokari Goodboy Sokari (Ahoada West constituency).
Debating the motion, members spoke in unison in support, and sympathised with the constituents of the affected constituencies, whose representatives allegedly abdicated legislative duties.
Amaewhule recalled that after the peace parley held at the instance of President Bola Tinubu, the Assembly withdrew its impeachment notice on the governor and also recalled the four suspended members, yet they stubbornly refused to attend sittings of the house.
When the speaker put the question to vote, the Assembly voted in the affirmative that the seats of the four members be declared vacant, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) be notified to conduct elections to fill the vacancies.
Amaewhule reiterated that given the fact the Court of Appeal upheld all the injunctive orders given by the Federal High Court, Fubara was enjoined to present the 2024 Appropriate Bill to the Assembly.
The governor had presented the N800 billion budget to only four out of 31 members of the Assembly, sparking legal challenges.
Earlier, House Leader, Hon. Major Jack, had informed the Assembly that he was in receipt of the judgement of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the judgement of Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court, recognising the authenticity of the Rivers State House of Assembly under the speakership of Amaewhule, which was appealed against by Fubara.
Jack laid the document on the table and it was received and adopted by the house as a working document.
Meanwhile, lawmakers loyal to Fubara restated their resolve that the seats of Amaewhule and 24 others remained vacant.
Victor Oko-Jumbo said the seats of the 25 lawmakers remained vacant after their defection from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that they must be filled through a bye-election conducted by INEC.
Oko-Jumbo explained that the 25 seats were declared vacant on December 13, 2024 by the then speaker, Ehie, and regretted that the commission had been foot-dragging on the conduct of bye-elections to fill the vacant seats.
He said the inability of INEC to do the needful since December 13, 2023 had created room for unnecessary distractions from Amaewhule and other 24 lawmakers.
Oko-Jumbo called on the commission to discharge its constitutional responsibility to the people of Rivers State.
