The Rivers state house of assembly, led by speaker Martin Amaewhule, failed to resume plenary on Thursday, January 15, amid rumours that some lawmakers were plotting to impeach Amaewhule during the scheduled sitting.
At its sitting last Thursday, the Assembly commenced impeachment proceedings against governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, over gross misconduct.
The house, under Amaewhule’s leadership, cited the demolition of the assembly complex and spending without legislative approval, among other allegations, as grounds for the impeachment move.
The clerk of the assembly was consequently directed to serve an impeachment notice on the governor, giving him seven days to respond to the allegations.
The house thereafter adjourned sitting till Thursday.
However, amid mounting political pushback, four lawmakers between Monday and Wednesday formally withdrew from the impeachment process, calling instead for an amicable resolution of the crisis.
On Thursday, when the assembly was expected to reconvene, there was no indication that plenary would hold.
The house, which currently sits in the conference hall of its official legislative quarters along Aba road, Port Harcourt, remained inactive, with no explanation offered for the failure to sit or information on when lawmakers would reconvene.
Meanwhile, a top government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the lawmakers as characters more suited to the Nollywood industry than politics.
“The other time, they sat and gave the governor one week to respond to allegations against him and all the rest. Now these people are like Nollywood players, they can act,’ the official said.
“I don’t even know what they are doing in politics instead of going into Nollywood so that they can produce good movies.”
Commenting on the silence of the lawmakers and the rumoured impeachment of the speaker, the official said: “What I heard, because I’m not close to any of the assembly members, was that there was an attempt to impeach the speaker, Martin Amaewhule, today, but I think he got wind of it and decided not to reconvene the house.”
“But you know an animal that removes itself from a trap set is still in the bush. Let’s see how far they can run at the end of the day. If that is true, you see that the hunter has become the hunted.”
Comments