Pro-Wike lawmakers hit colleagues loyal to Fubara, ‘declare’ their seats vacant

The pro-Wike faction of the Rivers House of Assembly has declared vacant the seats of the three lawmakers who are members of the faction backed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Channels Television reported that Martin Amaewhule, the leader of the pro-Wike faction, announced this at their plenary on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.

Mr Amaewhule said the seats of Fubara-backed lawmakers were declared vacant following their absence from sittings for 152 days consecutively without notification or permission, an action he claimed violated the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

It is not clear if Mr Amaewhule’s faction has sat for up to 152 days since the crisis that split them into two factions began last October.

Mr Amaewhule also declared vacant the seat of Edison Ehie, the former speaker of the other faction.

He said that Mr Ehie did not properly write to inform the house of his new office and, as such, his seat had been declared vacant.

The lawmakers resolved to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct an election within 90 days to “replace” the four lawmakers.

They further resolved to offer Mr Fubara “another opportunity” to present the N800 billion 2024 budget after the Appeal Court ruling nullified the governor’s earlier budget presentation.

Background

The Rivers House of Assembly split into two factions last year after some lawmakers, backed by Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister, attempted to impeach Governor Fubara last October.

Mr Fubara and his predecessor, Mr Wike, are at loggerheads over the control of the state’s political structure.

Mr Amaewhule and his 26 colleagues defected to the All Progressives Congress last December, citing a crisis with the Peoples Democratic Party.

Following their defection, Mr Ehie declared vacant their seats after securing a court order to continue legislative business without the interference of the Mr Amaewhule-led faction.

Governor Fubara had also presented the 2024 budget to Mr Ehie faction and later signed it into law after it was passed.

But the pro-Wike faction filed a suit, praying the court to invalidate the budget.

Mr Ehie later resigned as speaker and member of the assembly following a peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu. His resignation left Mr Fubara with three loyalists in the assembly, whose seats the pro-Wike lawmakers have just declared vacant.

Part of the conditions in the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu was for all parties to withdraw suits related to the crisis. Mr Ehie had withdrawn his contempt suit against the pro-Wike lawmakers, but the pro-Wike faction allowed their legal suit against the budget to proceed, outsmarting Mr Fubara’s faction.

Governor Fubara has repeatedly lost legal battles regarding the budget, including the latest that was ruled against him by the Appeal Court in Abuja.

The appellate court had affirmed the trial court verdict which voided the budget and also affirmed the pro-Wike faction as the legitimate legislature in the oil-rich state.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, Mr Fubara filed an appeal at the Supreme Court and also prayed for a stay of execution of the appellate court judgment.