…As party HQ backs action.
From Cyril Mbah, Abuja.
The national leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has sent it’s solidarity and message of support to the Rivers State chapter, which has warned Governor Siminalayi Fubara to refrain from acts capable of escalating the political crisis in the state.
National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Barrister Felix Morka told newsmen that the party was solidly and completely behind the state Caretaker Committee Chairman, Tony Okocha, who recently warned the State Governor to retrace his steps and stop further actions that will heat up the political atmosphere in Port Harcourt.
Okocha was quoted to have been reacting to the exparte order granted to the factional Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Ediso Ehie, restraining two PDP lawmakers, Martin Amaewhule and Dumle Maol, from disobeying the order relocating the conduct of the assembly’s “activities and meetings” to a more secure place.
Amaewhule and Maol still lay claim to the Speakership and Deputy Speakership of the house and have since declared the seats of 27 house members who detected to APC as vacant.
The exparte order was granted by a Port Harcourt High Court, presided over by Justice M.W. Danagogo.
The order also restrained Amaewhule from “disrupting and interferring” with Ehie’s activities, pending the determination of the motion on notice.
The court also warned against the use of thugs and Police by Amaewhule to forcefully gain access into the premises of the state House of Assembly Complex.
The court ordered the relocation of the house “to a secure and more conducive environment to ensure that the activities and meetings of the house are not disrupted during the period of the renovation of the burnt building, pending the determination of the hearing of the motion already filed.”
Ehie has conducted the activities of the house in his capacity as speaker, outside the assembly complex, after it was torched on the night of October 29 and later demolished by the state governor..
However, the APC chairman decried Danagogo’s order recognising Ehie as the speaker, when judgment was reserved for January 2024 on a suit Ehie filed seeking to be recognised as speaker.
He said that granting an experte order on the same case that judgment had been reserved was an abuse of court processes.
Okocha said that APC would not sit and watch the experte order executed, alleging that the order was made in clear violation of known principles of law and disobedience of the National Judicial Council (NJC) law.
According to him, the fear of the massive defection of 27 of the 31 PDP lawmakers to APC led to the procurement of an experte order to enable the governor to present his 2024 budget estimates to the assembly.
He wondered how three remaining members of the house, plus Ehie, would legitimately receive the 2024 Appropriation Bill.
Okocha said that the party would be left with no option than to petition the NJC, if the judge did not reverse himself, immediately.
He said that the state APC would not tolerate any intimidation and harassment of its new members in any form.
He justified the December 11 defection of the PDP members to APC on “irreconcilable crisis in the PDP,” saying that the action was supported by a section of the country’s Constitution.
Ijaw people angry with Tinubu gov’t over Rivers crisis – Asari Dokubo
A former Niger Delta militant leader, Asari Dokubo said the people of Ijaw are angry with President Bola Tinubu-led federal government over the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State.
