As predicted by political pundits, the drama in oil-rich Rivers State got more frenzied on Wednesday after the demolition of the State House of Assembly complex by the government.
Shortly after the benumbing exercise which saw the multi-billion Naira complex reduced to rubbles, a four-member Assembly met under the speakership of the governor’s loyalist, Hon. Edison Ehie, who declared the seats of his 27 other colleagues vacant.
The 27 had Monday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
From the midst of the 27, its spokesperson, George Alabo, speaking for the Martins Amaewhule-led group, said the demolition was a “rape of the history” of the state’s legislature.
“Our archives, our legislative department, our legal department, our library, all our records, the entire history of the House of Assembly—have just been brought down in one fell swoop,” Alabo said.
Ehie said at plenary that the House of Assembly complex was due for repairs as a result of the explosion that rocked it on October 30, 2023.
Curiously and out of sync with tradition, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, presented his 2024 budget to lawmakers in a hall in the Government House, the seat of the executive arm.
With a mace in front of him, Speaker Ehie and his three other colleagues and visitors, including a former speaker and deputy speaker, received the governor’s budget proposal of N800 billion.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government said the demolition of the Assembly Complex was carried out on the advice of consultants, who warned that the building is no longer habitable.
The Commissioner for Information, Joe Johnson, said after the budget presentation of the 2024 budget at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
In a resolution in Abuja, the National Working Committee (NWC), of the PDP declared:
1. That the Party communicates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by formally informing the Commission of the vacancies in the Rivers State House of Assembly as a result of the defection of the 25 now former members, who by virtue of Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) vacated their seats by their action.
2. That the Party officially demand that INEC should within the Constitutionally stipulated time, conduct fresh election in the 25 State Constituencies in Rivers State where vacancies now exist in the Rivers State House of Assembly as a result of the defection of the 25 now former members.
3. Direct the National Legal Adviser to commence appropriate legal action with respect to the declaration of the seats of the 25 defected former members vacant and the conduct of fresh election into the 25 State Constituencies in Rivers State in accordance with the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
4. That the PDP will take every step necessary and available in a democracy to ensure that the votes and mandate of the people of the 25 State Constituencies in Rivers State are protected and not appropriated under any circumstance whatsoever.
