Jonathan Nwokpor
The All Progressives Congress, or APC, has come under fire from the Rivers State Government for urging the State House of Assembly to start the impeachment process against Siminalayi Fubara, the state’s governor, right away.
Joseph Johnson, the state’s commissioner of information and communications, clarified that the 27 members of the State House of Assembly did not have the moral authority to remove the governor from office.
The commissioner cautioned the APC lawmakers—who support Nyesom Wike, the minister of Federal Capital Terrorism—against taking on such an endeavour, emphasising that the people of Rivers will oppose any attempt to remove the governor.
According to ZINGTIE, Tony Okocha, the APC’s chairman of the Caretaker Committee in Rivers State, urged the State Assembly to move swiftly to begin the impeachment process of the governor during a news conference in Port Harcourt.
Okocha claimed that the governor “has insulted the sensibility” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who intervened to end the state’s protracted problem, and that for this reason, the governor had to be removed from office.
In a swift reply, Okocha was called out by the Information and Communications Commissioner for being an illegitimate member of the APC and for lacking the moral character to discuss the state government.
The commissioner stated that attempts to remove the governor would not be simple and that the state’s citizens would oppose such actions with their blood.
He said, “It is not going to be an easy journey. They should not imagine embarking on it because Rivers people will resist them. Rivers people will resist them because it is even baseless to think of it. They are not fighting with legitimacy; they are only fighting for their own survival. On what plank will you put that? The law says you can’t put legality on illegality.
“As far as we are concerned, they do not even have the locus standi to do that. They should not even bother to start it because Section 109(g) has settled the case. It says if an Assembly member defects from his own party that brought him to power, you automatically lose his seat. They have done that, and it is settled. Our Constitution is the grand norm.
“The court, the Supreme Court, is there to look at these elementary issues. There is also a subsisting judgement on this, so we don’t need a second opinion on whether we should respect them as Assembly members or not. The Supreme Court has already declared those seats vacant.
“Tony Okocha was just yesterday declared as not being a member of APC by a former chairman of the party, Sokonte Davies. He is a factional chairman. We want the faction led by Chief Emeka Beke to say the same thing. Okocha is standing on one leg. His call is an empty call. His advice to impeach the governor is a journey that leads nowhere, and they will not succeed. The lawmakers are not existent, and they are not seen in law.”
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