Crisis festers as pro-Fubara lawmakers elect factional speaker for Rivers Assembly
The lawmaker representing Bonny State Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Victor Oko Jumbo, on Wednesday emerged as the new speaker of the Assembly.
Jumbo was elected at a meeting of three lawmakers loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara in Port Harcourt.
The development is expected to reignite the crisis in the Assembly despite the calls for all parties in the dispute to sheath their swords in line with an agreement reached in last December’s meeting convened by President Bola Tinubu.
Edison Ehie, the chief of staff to the governor, stepped down as factional speaker of the Assembly shortly after the meeting with the president last year.
Martin Amaewhule, a loyalist of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesome Wike, took over as speaker of the Assembly following Ehie’s resignation.
The lawmakers had on March 30 threatened to resume impeachment proceedings against Fubara over alleged gross misconduct.
They accused the governor of refusing to fulfill his side of the presidential peace accord he signed without coercion.
The chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Tony Okocha, on Tuesday directed the party members in the Assembly to resume impeachment proceedings against the governor over misconduct.
He also threatened to initiate disciplinary measures against the APC lawmakers if they failed to resume the impeachment proceedings against Fubara.
The Association of Local Government Areas of Nigeria (ALGON) had earlier on Wednesday accused the governor of withholding the local council funds and declared its support for the ongoing plot by the lawmakers to impeach him.
