• Governor focused on people, not vain glory, says SSG
• Clark urges IGP to arrest situation
The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has directed the State House of Assembly led by Martins Amaewhule to immediately commence the impeachment process of Governor Siminialayi Fubara. The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party, Tony Okocha, warned that his party would invoke constitutional process against the lawmakers if they fail to do so.
Okocha, who gave the directive while briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt, yesterday, said that the decision followed remarks by the governor that President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the crisis rocking the state was a mere political solution.
But in a swift reaction, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, vowed that Rivers people would resist such an order, saying: “We will not allow it, and it cannot stand.”
The Commissioner said that Okocha does not have the locus standi to issue such directive, considering that he is just an acting caretaker committee chairman, which means there is a substantive Chairman of APC in the state, Emeka Bekee, and the matter is pending in court.
Fubara had, on Monday, during a courtesy visit by the Bayelsa State delegation of political and traditional leaders, led by former governor of the state, Henry Seriake Dickson, at Government House, Port Harcourt, stated that the state Assembly does not exist.
MEANWHILE, Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Tammy Danagogo, has said that contrary to past governors who embarked on projects that would bring glory to their administration, the incumbent Governor, Fubara, is rather interested in improving the lives of Rivers’ people.
Danagogo disclosed this while briefing journalists in Port Harcourt, yesterday, about the commencement of a 20-day programme of activities to commemorate the governor’s one year in office.
HOWEVER, the elder statesman and Ijaw leader, Edwin Clark, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to urgently arrest the political crises in Rivers State before it gets out of hand.
He also asked the IGP to advise President Bola Tinubu that the interest of one man should not be allowed to override everybody, warning that the looming danger in the state must be nipped in the bud.
Clark’s call is coming on the heels of incessant impeachment threats against Fubara by the Amaewhule-led state Assembly, who is believed to be loyal to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Clark, in an open letter to the IGP, urged him to step into the matter to forestall anarchy in the state. He explained that by the virtue of Section 109 (1) 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, the 27 lawmakers ceased to be members of the Rivers State Assembly, following their announced defection to the APC.
