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Rivers Crisis Hits Hard As Another Factional Assembly Speaker Emerges
The political crisis in Rivers State has just become more intense as a factional Speaker, Victor Oko Jumbo, representing Bonny Constituency, emerged in the Rivers Assembly on Wednesday.
Nation Post understands that the latest development has led to the total collapse of the peace deal brokered between the parties by President Bola Tinubu, returning all involved in the impasse to the trenches.
On Wednesday, Hon. Oko Jumbo was sworn in as the factional Speaker of the Assembly after being elected by two lawmakers loyal to the state governor.
Jumbo has expressed his readiness to collaborate with Governor Fubara and has instructed the Clerk of the Assembly to inform the executive about the new leadership of the assembly. Oko-Jumbo has made it clear that the actions taken by the faction led by Martin Amaewhule are invalid.
Since the House’s last session on December 13, 2023, and its adjournment sine die, there have been numerous instances of legislative misconduct involving 25 former members of the 10th Rivers State House of Assembly under the leadership of the former Speaker, Amaewhule.
The appointment of a new Speaker has resulted in the collapse of the peace agreement brokered between the parties by President Bola Tinubu, pushing all parties involved back into conflict. Fubara has refused to acknowledge the state House of Assembly led by Hon. Martin Amaewhule, following the decision of lawmakers loyal to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, to switch from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He argued that the Amaewhule-led Assembly no longer exists legally.
Fubara had stated, “Let me say it here, those group of men who claim that they are assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record.
“I accepted that peace accord to give them a soft-landing. That’s the truth. There is nothing in that peace accord that is a constitutional issue. It is a political solution to a problem. I accepted it because these are people that were visiting me and we were together in my house.
“These are people that I have helped… in many ways when I wasn’t even a governor. Yes, we might have our disagreements, but I believe that one day, we could also come together. That was the reason I did it.
“But I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing, so that they understand that they are not existing. Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognise them, they are nowhere, that is the truth.”
