Twenty-seven members of the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule who are loyal to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to All Progressive Congress, APC.
Affected lawmakers who initiated impeachment against Governor Sim Fubara cite division in the PDP as reason for their defection to APC.
Rivers State lawmakers also adopted a resolution condemning the withholding of funds for Management of the House of Assembly
Members of Rivers State House of Assembly at Monday sitting passed for Second Reading the Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2023 among other legislative activities.
DAILY GIST reports that the immediate former governor of Rivers and Fubara, his successor, have been at loggerheads over the control of the political structure in the state.
The crisis between the two politicians heightened last month, culminating in an attempted impeachment of Fubara.
Despite the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the face-off between Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State and his predecessor, Mr Nyesom Wike, there are speculations that the political crisis is far from being resolved.
The forces loyal to Wike were reportedly unrelenting in their plan to remove the governor, who, incidentally, was a close ally of his predecessor, now the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
Abuja.
The camp of the minister had reportedly restrategised and was mobilising necessary means to carry out the impeachment of the governor.
The forces within the camp were said to have lobbied one of the major pro-Niger Delta groups that issued a stern warning against the planned removal of the governor, to denounce its current unfavourable disposition towards the plot.
The relationship between Wike and Fubara went awry, following the botched attempt by some members of the state House of Assembly loyal to Wike to begin the process of impeaching the governor.
The personality clash got to a head, when a section of the assembly was set ablaze by suspected arsonists, who have neither been identified nor apprehended to face the law of the land.
In the wake of the altercations that trailed the political crisis, Fubara had sounded reconciliatory in his speech when a military delegation led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, paid him a visit at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
“There is nothing wrong if a father and a son have a problem, but I don’t think there is anything; whatever it is, we will definitely resolve the issue,” he said
Speaking at a media parley in Abuja, Wike said Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, is “trying to create” a political crisis for himself.
“Let me tell you — I don’t like ingrates. I can’t stand it. What is happening now (in Rivers) is what Odili said in his book: ‘Give a man power and money, then you will know the person.’ If you haven’t given a man power and money then you don’t know the person,” Wike said.
“However, I’m not worried because I am a politician. I know what other states are suffering because of debt. But go (to Rivers) and check if I had liabilities, the records are there.
Wike said he would do all it takes to maintain his “political structure” in the state.
“Nobody can take away the political structure in Rivers. Nobody can intimidate me. If I want to do something, I will do it. The impeachment is not a military coup, it is provided under the constitution,” he had said.
