Custody Battle For Legislators Quarters Is Next Flash Point In Rivers

The political melodrama in Rivers State was again brought to the fore on Thursday after a visit by Governor Siminalayi Fubara to the legislative quarters of the Rivers State House of Assembly in Port-Harcourt.

The governor made a detour into the living quarters of the legislative complex in the course of his regular inspection of projects in the capital city. At the end of his visit, the governor expressed disapproval over what he claimed was the disrepair in the quarters which remarkably was built less than four years ago.

At the end of his visit, the governor suggested that the living quarters would be rehabilitated.

The move by Governor Fubara follows the relocation of the sitting of the House of Assembly to the living quarters of the legislators after the bombing and demolition of the House of Assembly complex last year.

The assembly quarters was bombed on October 30 by yet-to-be-identified persons as word leaked of a plan to impeach Governor Fubara. The bomb caused extensive damage to the state-of-the-art legislative chambers which according to government officials violated the integrity of the building.

On account of the damages, the faction of the assembly led by Martin Amaewhule and which is loyal to FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, relocated to an improvised building within the living quarters to hold their regular meetings.

From that building they have in the last few months churned out regular proposals that in the last week escalated to the proposal to now impeach the governor.

It was as such remarkable that the proposal to renovate the living quarters was seen as another political scheme to disconcert the Amaewhule-led assembly.

Mr Amaewhule, sensing that the renovation scheme may be targeted at paralysing the faction, immediately raised his opposition saying that there was nothing wrong with the complex.

Governor Fubara is, however, not paying heed to him. He had earlier said that Amaewhule and his group do not exist in his eyes as genuine lawmakers. The claim by Governor Fubara came as the group of three lawmakers loyal to him produced another speaker in the person of Victor Oko-Jumbo.

The governor’s claim that the Amaewhule-led group do not exist is in the face of Section 109 of the Constitution which stipulates that a member of the House of Assembly should lose his seat if he leaves the party on whose platform he was elected so long as there is no division in that party.

Remarkably, almost everyone in the Fubara camp has been shouting along with the governor that the defection of the 27 lawmakers to the APC from the PDP on whose platform they were elected means that they have lost their seats.

However, they have failed to look at Section 109 (2) which confers the power to declare the seat vacant on the speaker of the House.

The constitutional quagmire here is that the speaker himself, that is Amaewhule is among those who have defected. So, who in the eyes of the law should declare the seats vacant? The constitution empowers only the speaker to declare a defector’s seat vacant. Only the speaker also has the unique role of informing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC of a vacancy in the legislative chamber.

That is the constitutional question that is posed by the developments in the Rivers State House of Assembly. The emergence of Oko-Jumbo as a factional speaker may be an advantage to the Fubara camp as he could raise the issue, but only if INEC accepts his legitimacy as head of a three-man House of Assembly!

In effect, determining the legitimacy of the real speaker in Rivers State is pivotal to solving the crisis in the State. If the courts determine that Amaewhule is genuine, then Fubara will be more than finished. 

However, if the courts determine that Oko-Jumbo is genuine, then Fubara and his crowd could well smile.

The issues in the Rivers State House of Assembly underpin the contest of power between Fubara and his erstwhile political benefactor, Nyesom Wike.

So totally displeased with Fubara, the former governor has now taken to using his political privileges in Abuja to sustain his camp in Rivers State.

Just last Thursday it emerged that one of the former governor’s most steadfast loyalists, Emeka Woke who had been floating as commissioner for special duties had been appointed as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority.

However, the concern of your correspondent is the very disproportionate component that the Wike crowd has been taking up appointments made by the presidency and in the FCT.

It appears as if only friends of Wike from Rivers State are getting the appointments meant for the South-South of the country in the Bola Tinubu government.

To sustain his political relevance, Wike continues to dispense patronage to his crowd of loyalists in Rivers State but for how long he will be able to do so is a genuine question that will determine how long the drama in Rivers State will last. 

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